She told them that in the days before they came knocking, she had feared for her life.
Then she played them recordings she had secretly made on her phone of the older man verbally abusing her, calling her a “maggot b****”, and saying he would kill her.
The man’s arrest at his Hastings home in April 2024 had its sequel in the Napier District Court on Friday, when he was found guilty on 27 charges.
They included the attempted rape of the woman more than 30 years his junior, six charges of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, and numerous counts of assault and threatening to kill.
Because of his criminal record, which included manslaughter for killing a man nearly 20 years ago, the law did not allow for the man to be granted bail after his new convictions.
Judge Russell Collins remanded him in custody to be sentenced next month.
The woman’s ordeal was detailed to a jury of six men and six women during a four-day trial.
It was the second time that the woman, now in her early 20s, had taken the witness stand. An earlier trial had to be abandoned when the defendant became ill and was admitted to hospital.
‘Passed around through the system’
The jury was told the woman had a difficult upbringing. In the words of a former foster father, she had been “passed around through the system” before turning up at his house at the age of 16.
About three years later, she left her foster family’s home to move to Hastings and lodge with an older couple.
Things went well at first, until the wife went away for a while. Then the abuse started.
The Crown case, presented by prosecutor Megan Mitchell, said the man began assaulting the woman, punching her for perceived disrespect or striking her when she chose to keep quiet for fear of provoking him.
He punched her face, legs and ribs and pulled her to the ground by her hair. The violence was often accompanied by verbal abuse, and he locked her outside the house.
The man asked the woman to perform oral sex on him. She complied, believing she had no choice.
From then on, she was forced to provide oral sex more often. When she refused, she was given a “fat hiding”, she said.
Some of the assault and sexual connection charges were laid representatively, meaning these things happened on multiple occasions.
The court was told that in early 2024, the man tried to have sex with the woman, unsuccessfully.
The man denied the allegations, claiming in his recorded police interview that the woman had made advances to him.
He said he had woken up from a heavy sleep while on medication to find her performing oral sex on him.
The jury believed her account.
Foster father tipped off police
After leaving the foster family, the woman had kept in touch with them through Facebook Messenger.
Her former foster father told the court that the contact was frequent during the first six months, but then became less so, and the messages became more concerning.
The foster dad initially thought the woman was “over-exaggerating some of these stories”, but they became “more worrisome”, he said.
They detailed abusive behaviour, threats made towards her, even photographs of her bruised face and black eyes.
The foster father implored the young woman to go to police, but she did not.
He then contacted police himself.
Day of arrest recounted
Detective Constable Bailee Carr told the court about the day officers turned up at the house to conduct a “welfare check” on the woman.
The man came to the door first and was “quite resistant” towards police. Officers struggled to gain control of him and put handcuffs on him.
Then, the woman came out, and she too was “verbally obstructive” towards police and emotionally heightened, Carr said.
The man was yelling at her: “Don’t tell them anything. Nothing’s happened, eh?”
The woman was also yelling, telling police not to take him, and police moved to hold her back.
Carr said, however, that the woman was “acting as if she was pushing against” the officers, but they felt she was putting up little resistance.
“I didn’t feel she wanted to get to him,” Carr said.
As soon as the man was out of earshot, the woman’s demeanour changed, and she began to tell the officers about what had been happening to her.
Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of frontline experience as a probation officer.