She has denied five counts of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection and two counts of doing an indecent act on a young person.
Today, the man’s wife, whose name is automatically suppressed to protect her husband, told the Wellington District Court the couple met at high school, but didn’t date until their final year of college and later married.
The woman told the court she became a Christian and gave her life to God at the age of 13.
A number’s just popped into my head
She told the court that about four months before they began dating, they were part of a large group of friends at school.
One night, she’d invited the group to a service at The Rock, a Wellington church.
The man agreed to come, mistakenly thinking it was a rock-climbing event.
To her surprise, he stayed for the service, even returning the following week.
After the second service, when they’d dropped the others home and they were sitting in the car together, she told the court the man had a “transformative” experience and converted to Christianity.
“That’s when he gave his life to the Lord,” she said.
Several weeks later, the two again found themselves alone in the car, talking and praying about other things, when she said to him; “A number’s just popped into my head”.
She said the man told her he knew what the number meant and directed her to drive around to the house.
He told the woman that this was the house where a teacher and former family friend used to live and had raped him.
“He said this house is the number and this is what happened to me,” explaining they’d sat in the car and prayed for forgiveness.
She said she felt honoured as his friend to be part of the moment.
Asked by defence lawyer Elizabeth Hall what they were praying for, the woman said sometimes they’d pray to ask God what they should do that night.
Wedding tattoo revelation
Earlier, the court heard about the woman’s wedding, which occurred several years after the alleged abuse ended.
The man told the court he’d reluctantly attended the wedding because the woman was a family friend and at that stage his family was unaware of the alleged abuse.
He claims the woman took him aside and showed him a tattoo, claiming it represented her love for him.
Today, his wife told the court, the man, who she insisted was at that stage her boyfriend, had rung her after the nuptials and told her about the tattoo and how she’d had to pull her dress down to show him.
She said the man was disturbed and shaken up that someone would do that on their wedding day.
Hall asked the woman if she’d be surprised to learn that her client’s wedding took place before the pair began dating.
But the woman remained steadfast in her belief that her husband’s account was correct.
“I know my husband’s an honest man; he didn’t make it up. Maybe she’s been married to another man, ” she responded.
Hall put it to the woman that she could never accept that her husband wasn’t telling the truth.
“It is fair that it is inconceivable to you that (your husband) is not telling the truth?”
“(My husband) is 100% telling the truth, he is an honest man and he wouldn’t lie about this,” she responded.
The woman denied that the marriage would be over if her husband’s claims were exposed as a lie.
The case continues.
Catherine Hutton is an Open Justice reporter, based in Wellington. She has worked as a journalist for 20 years, including at the Waikato Times and RNZ. Most recently she was working as a media adviser at the Ministry of Justice.