Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
A man accused of sexual violation after a night out at a central Christchurch bar Mama Hooch five years ago has been found not guilty in the district court this afternoon.
Judge Paul Mabey revealed the verdict to the Christchurch court during the second day of a judge-alone trial.
The man, who has name suppression, pleaded not guilty to the charge,
An unnamed woman complainant alleges she was sexually violated on a couch at a townhouse as two others watched after leaving the bar Mama Hooch on 4 August 2018.
But Judge Mabey found, based on the evidence presented before the court, there was enough doubt on whether the act had taken place.
"I am not going to convict you," Mabey told the defendant.
"[The woman] is adamant, but there are many gaps in her memory."
He said he could not rule out the "distinct possibility" that the woman had innocently reconstructed things that did not happen, particularly after she had been shown news articles at the time relating to Mama Hooch.
The case follows the trial of three other associates on 68 charges, including rape, sexual violation, indecent assault and drink-spiking.
Two of the men were convicted and will be sentenced in July while a third man was acquitted,
The partner of one of the three men presented evidence in court earlier today, in which she claims she saw the woman at the flat that night.
The woman, who RNZ has chosen not to name due to existing suppression orders, said nothing untoward happened.
"We were just having conversations, she was choosing music, she was choosing what she wanted to play and she was absolutely fine.
"She was coherent, her eyes were always open, she wasn't lying down.
"If I thought there was anything wrong, I wouldn't have just left her there."
The complainant told the court how she found herself lying on the couch, wearing "nothing but her t-shirt".
"He had his hand between my legs," she said.
The witness denied the assault took place and that she was fully clothed.
She said she did not have "more than four drinks" throughout the night.
Crown prosecutor Andrew McRae, however, accused the witness of lying to protect her friend, citing discrepancies in her accounts to both the court and previous reports to police.
McRae also said based on the timing of txts and phone calls she made the morning after, she could not have been at the flat when the complainant had left.
"You have come along and not told us the truth about this."
She replied: "I stick to my word that I was there when she left and I wouldn't come here and lie to protect someone."
An acquaintance of the woman who saw her at Mama Hooch during the night in question gave evidence earlier in the day.
Speaking via video link from the US, Nicholas Souchon told Crown prosecutor Andrew McRae she was in high spirits.
Souchon told the court the woman had bought the pair a Dark and Stormy cocktail and a tequila shot each.
The court heard that she was "pretty hammered" soon after, which he felt was strange as they had only had a couple of drinks.
Souchon told the court he saw the woman leave the bar, but did not see anyone else with her.
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