By SCOTT INGLIS
A man accused of sex crimes, including the vicious Mother's Day rape of a South Auckland woman, has been found dead in Mt Eden Prison.
Alfred Taituma, aged 44, was found in his remand-section cell about 11 am on Saturday.
Prison staff tried to revive him using CPR before ambulance officers arrived. A Corrections Department spokeswoman said the death would be referred to the coroner.
Taituma was accused of sex crimes, including two rapes, against three women.
One was Angela, a South Auckland mother of three, who was raped and repeatedly violated for up to an hour in a Manurewa carpark after accepting a ride from a man about 3.30 am on May 14 - Mother's Day.
Angela (not her real name) told her harrowing story to the Herald two days later as a special taskforce of 40 police hunted her attacker.
Taituma, who had a long list of previous convictions, was arrested in May.
Angela learned of Taituma's death yesterday afternoon and said that, while it spared her the ordeal of testifying, she was angry that he would never stand trial.
"I'm really glad he's gone but ... I'm still here and still have to deal with what happened to me for the rest of my life."
She had wanted him to "suffer for as long as it took for me to heal."
Angela said she had not properly dealt with the attack yet and she would look at counselling.
She and her husband were still desperately trying to rebuild their shattered lives.
Police allege Taituma used a stolen black Honda, with false registration plates, when he attacked Angela.
They also claim Taituma abducted and assaulted a woman with the intention of raping her in a Balmoral carpark on February 4.
He had allegedly picked her up in a yellow Honda City in Auckland city.
Taituma was also charged with abducting and raping a woman last December 19.
He initially appeared in the Papakura District Court on two charges of car theft but was later charged with the sex offences.
A police source said Taituma was believed to have attacked another woman, a sex worker, but she refused to press charges.
Taituma, according to the source, did not like women and often used prostitutes in Auckland.
Police officers the Herald spoke to had no doubt there were other victims, particularly sex workers, who had not come forward.
Taituma's lawyer, Shane Cassidy, said his client had been due back in court for a depositions hearing on August 23 in relation to two victims, and on September 13 in connection with the third.
DNA test results from the Institute of Environmental Science and Research had not arrived and the defence case so far rested on the victims identifying Taituma as their attacker.
"He had a reasonable shot at defending the charges on the basis of identification."
Mr Cassidy said relatives of one of the victims had abused and sworn at Taituma when he first appeared, and that had had an "immensely adverse" effect on him.
A relative said last night that Taituma was born in Owhango, just south of Taumarunui, and attended Taumarunui High School.
He first went to prison as a young man and shifted to Auckland in his early 20s. He turned to a life of crime, and jail became his "second home" between general labouring jobs.
Taituma's main offences were understood to have been burglary and fighting.
He had some gang connections.
Taituma had at least four children to various partners but never married. The youngest child is understood to be aged just under a year.
One son is an inmate at Waikeria Prison.
Relatives travelled from Taumarunui yesterday and will take his body back for burial.
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