A woman who says she was raped by a man in an Auckland motel has been accused of fabricating her story.
Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
The man, who has interim name suppression, is on trial before Justice Venning in the High Court at Auckland this week.
He has pleaded not guilty to one charge of sexual violation by rape, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in jail.
This morning, the complainant told the court she met the man on a date at a bar in Auckland's Viaduct in early 2018.
She said they chatted about their lives, occasionally kissing one another, but she did not think it would go any further than the first date.
The woman told the court the man "flipped" when he realised she was texting two male friends as he drove her to another bar in Mt Eden.
"When I messaged both of my friends [the man] got really angry about it. He said 'why was I messaging other people. I was with him on a date and I get to see my friends all the time'.
"'Why do I need to message other people, especially boys'. The fact that they were both boys seemed to make him more frustrated and it just came out of nowhere."
The woman said the pair eventually left the Mt Eden bar and the man drove around for a while saying he was looking for a bottle store.
She said she was confused when he pulled up at a motel but she went inside anyway thinking she would sort out a ride home once she was inside.
The complainant cried as she described the man getting angry when she explicitly refused to go any further than kissing on the bed.
"He came and sat down next to me and started kissing me again. Then he started putting his hands on my legs and pushing my dress further up.
"He was pushing my dress up and then I think he went to touch me and I said I didn't want to do anything that night; 'No not tonight, not now, I don't want to do that today'."
The woman said the man raised his voice before quickly calming down but refusing to drive her home; saying he had consumed too much alcohol that night.
She said she got into bed fully clothed and positioned away from the man but he put his arm around her, kissed her and then raped her.
The court heard the woman called her mother at 6.15am the next morning before the man dropped her off near her family home the next day.
The man's defence lawyer Tiffany Cooper told the court the sexual activity between the pair that night was consensual and the woman's story was a fabrication.
While cross-examining the complainant, she told the court there was "ample opportunity" to bail on the date or remove herself from the motel that night.
The woman repeatedly said she was telling the truth and felt she couldn't leave the motel that night due to the man's volatile demeanour and physical size.
She said she realised she had left her handbag at one of the bars when she was at the motel and felt she could not leave without cash or her house keys.
Cooper pressed the woman on her account, asking her why she had not removed herself from the room or messaged someone for help that night.
She cried as she told the court she had frozen when the man assaulted her and she wished she had asked for help that night.
The judge-alone trial before Justice Venning is set down for three days.