Tauranga District Court hearing: Woman claims she was raped by man after work event

An afternoon at the race track, followed by a boozy celebration at a colleague’s house, reportedly ended with a woman being awakened in the early hours of the morning by a man who raped her.

A group of colleagues, their partners and friends had previously bet on horses in a company box and enjoyed the hospitality at the Tauranga races.

Some of the group had returned to a colleague’s house after the race.

One of these men, whose name has not been disclosed, is now standing trial in the Tauranga District Court before a jury on charges of rape.

The court heard it was a sunny summer’s day with champagne, rosé and gin flowing freely and colleagues, spouses, friends and neighbours enjoying themselves around a campfire outside.

A woman who was a professional and friend of the homeowner said she had a lot of fun, chatting with old friends and people she had just met.

Her husband had left the event early, but she had stayed.

The gathering continued with more drinks and festivities and some people remained in the house until the early hours of the morning.

The woman stated in court that she was already very drunk at that point and could not remember large parts of the evening.

She went to bed in one of the guest rooms after one of the house owners showed her the room.

She says she fainted but woke up in the early hours of the morning and was allegedly “violently” raped by a man she had only met a few times.

She stated that when she realized what was happening, she kept thinking, “Say something, say something,” before saying in her “sternest” voice, “Leave me the fuck alone.”

In her video evidence to the police, she claims that he then “scurried away.”

She went back to sleep, but said when she woke up later that morning and went to the bathroom, she was in pain.

She looked in the bathroom mirror and thought, “What the hell, did that really happen?”

The woman said she left the room and went somewhere to charge her phone, which had run out of battery overnight.

She told the court she had no intention of speaking to the homeowner about it, but he asked her if everything was OK.

She became angry when she told him what had supposedly happened.

The homeowner picked up his wife and then called the woman’s husband to pick her up.

He then called the police.

The defense argues that the woman fabricated the crime and the incident never happened.

Defense attorney Craig Tuck told the woman the incident was an “absolute fantasy” and that the defendant had never touched her.

The woman replied that she wished she had made it up.

Then she would not have lost her self-confidence, her income or had to endure the post-traumatic stress disorder that she claims is a result of the incident.

He asked her about her memory, given how much she had drunk that evening.

He said her memory had been “shot to pieces.”

She admitted that she could not remember much of the evening and that she had drunk more than usual.

However, she said her memory of the alleged rape was clear.

The court also heard from the owners of the house where the incident occurred, both of whom were long-time friends of the woman.

They described their despair and hysteria the morning after the alleged sexual assault and their role in reporting the incident to police.

One of them said the woman was “sobbling uncontrollably” as she described the alleged assault.

The trial continues before Judge William Lawson.

Hannah Bartlett is a Tauranga-based Open Justice reporter with NZME. She previously covered courts and local government for the Nelson Mail and before that was a radio reporter with Newstalk ZB.