All of the defendants, referred to in public court documents only as B, S and O, have interim name suppression until the end of the trial. Sexual abuse complainants have automatic suppression.<\/p>\n
The woman said repeatedly in the police interview and again today that she remembered arriving at Family Bar on K Rd and dancing with friends from the Auckland Central hostel where she was staying. She said her memory then went blank until later that morning, when she recalled realising a man was on top of her inside a van, having sex with her. <\/p>\n
A woman who has accused three men of rape says she met one of them while intoxicated at Family Bar on Auckland Central’s Karangahape Rd. <\/p>\n
\u201cI know that I was quite drunk and had very little memory,\u201d she explained today, speaking in German before an interpreter in the courtroom translated for jurors. \u201cI don\u2019t know how to say it but it seems like I lost consciousness every now and again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Enhanced CCTV from the Avondale carpark shows what prosecutors Fiona Culliney and Pip McNabb have contended is evidence of three people taking turns raping the woman inside the van. <\/p>\n
She either explicitly didn\u2019t consent to sex with the trio that night or was too intoxicated to give consent, prosecutors said, explaining that the law states either scenario equates to rape. <\/p>\n
Defence lawyers for defendants B and O, however, have said they are not guilty because there was a reasonable belief on the morning that the sex was consensual. The lawyer for S has said he\u2019s not guilty because he slept through the entire incident in the back of the van, not participating. <\/p>\n
DNA evidence links B and O to sexual activity with the woman. Although DNA tests for S were inconclusive, prosecutors said he bragged to a friend after the incident about having participated. <\/p>\n
The complainant was emotional throughout her evidence today, but some of her strongest responses were when lawyer Petrina Stokes, representing B, played CCTV footage from outside Family Bar. <\/p>\n
Crown prosecutor Fiona Culliney. Photo \/ Michael Craig<\/p>\n
It showed her and B together before the van \u2013 purportedly with the other two defendants in it \u2013 arrived. The two kissed at one point. At another point, she moved the defendant\u2019s hand down to her bottom, the defence lawyer pointed out. <\/p>\n
The footage also appeared to show her unsteady on her feet. <\/p>\n
Prosecutors have said the kissing at the nightclub was consensual but not the sex with the three defendants. For her part, the complainant said she had no memory of any of it but conceded it appeared to be her on film. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou might have seen in the video that I kissed the man, but you also saw that I was so drunk that he lifted me up,\u201d she said. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to get in the car with any strange people.\u201d<\/p>\n
At some point around the time they were outside the nightclub, the woman sent a one-word message to her fellow backpacker friends on a WhatsApp chat group: \u201cgilde\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m pretty sure it was either a typo or an auto-correction of the German word for \u2018help\u2019,\u201d the complainant said, explaining that \u201chelp\u201d translates to \u201chilfe\u201d. <\/p>\n
Defence lawyers pointed out the \u201cgilde\u201d can mean \u201cteam\u201d or \u201cgroup\u201d in German, but the woman dismissed it as an \u201cancient\u201d word that she has never before used. <\/p>\n
She texted more clearly about an hour later, telling her friends in German: \u201cCan somebody help me please.\u201d<\/p>\n
The defence suggested that when in the van, the woman was sexually forward towards B, helping him take off his black singlet. She repeated that she had no memory of it. It was suggested she had her hand around the back of the man\u2019s neck as he lay on top of her. <\/p>\n
\u201cNot in my memory,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI do remember feeling there were hands everywhere, but I don\u2019t know what situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The defence lawyer suggested that B suddenly appeared to be embarrassed about something and moved away from her. <\/p>\n
\u201cI have no idea,\u201d she repeated, adding in seeming exasperation: \u201cI don\u2019t know what you want me to say.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIs it fair to say it could have happened but you don\u2019t remember?\u201d Stokes asked. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf course you could say that … but you could say that about anything,\u201d the complainant replied. <\/p>\n
In her final question, Stokes suggested the woman had consented to what happened with B that morning. The woman cried loudly then replied in a fast, raised voice. <\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t remember,\u201d she said. \u201cBut if I had done so I wouldn\u2019t have landed in the hospital afterwards, would I?\u201d<\/p>\n
The lawyer for O, the driver of the van, later suggested through her questioning that the woman had also kissed her client in the nightclub before getting into the van.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou asked him to have sex with you, is that right?\u201d Cresswell asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t remember, but I would be fairly certain I didn\u2019t do it,\u201d the woman responded through tears. <\/p>\n
She later elaborated when questioned again by prosecutors. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt just doesn\u2019t make sense to me,\u201d she said of the contention she welcomed the sexual activity. \u201cI didn\u2019t even know until the police told me that several people had sex with me \u2013 I didn\u2019t even know about that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The woman was also asked about how she was left at the hostel after the Avondale incident. Prosecutors have suggested she was \u201cpushed\u201d out of the vehicle in a final act of inhumane treatment by the defendants. <\/p>\n
The woman said her memory of that, too, remains murky. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut I remember feeling that it was a hard exit and I was on the street and my legs hurt,\u201d she explained. <\/p>\n
Detective Constable Tessa Bassett, one of only two other witnesses to give evidence today, shed more light on that portion of the morning. She recalled talking to the complainant\u2019s friend at the hostel, another backpacker who said the complainant initially told her she had been \u201cpushed out\u201d of the vehicle in front of the hostel. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t know what they did to me,\u201d the friend recalled the complainant saying as she tried to run into the street. <\/p>\n
By the time Bassett got to the complainant, she was in a room of the hostel with about eight beds. A paramedic described her to jurors as \u201ccatatonic in nature\u201d and curled into a foetal position half off the bed, with some grass and leaves in her hair. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe still seemed like she was intoxicated and really did not want to get out of bed,\u201d the detective said. \u201cI just remember that she was trying to stay asleep and just saying she did not want to go \u2013 just physically resisting.\u201d<\/p>\n
They talked again in the hospital several hours later, after the woman woke up from a rest. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe guys raped me,\u201d the complainant told her, according to her handwritten bullet-point notes. \u201cDon\u2019t know how many guys. Can\u2019t remember if I lost consciousness or if it was just a blur …<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were moving me all the time. I couldn\u2019t stop it … It was already happening by the time I woke up …<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t remember anything else. I just want this to be over and forget about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The defendants, who were between the ages of 19 and 20 at the time, face three charges each of rape. One count is for the act each defendant allegedly committed himself, and the other two counts are for having allegedly aided or encouraged his co-defendants to rape the woman. <\/p>\n
The trial continues tomorrow before Justice Mathew Downs and the jury. <\/p>\n