A leading figure in the New Zealand entertainment industry is on trial in the High Court at Rotorua. Photo / Andrew Warner
A leading entertainment figure accused of raping a woman he was having an affair with “bought her Chanel” after they fought, a former friend of the complainant claims.
The friend, a witness for the Crown in the trial of the man accused of sexually assaulting, raping and supplying drugs to the woman, told the jury her former friend never told her about these allegations.
The man is on trial in the High Court at Rotorua facing 25 charges involving allegations of rape, sexual assault and drug-related offending. The charges relate to nine women.
The Crown alleges the defendant used illicit drugs on some of the women before offending against them sexually, and used his position in the entertainment industry to get what he wanted from women.
The defence says that while the defendant admitted taking drugs and having sex with other women, this was the nature of the industry. He was popular and did not need to ply women with drugs and alcohol for sex, and the case was a “MeToo fest”.
The defendant has interim name suppression, and some details and names of others involved also cannot be reported.
Yesterday, a Crown witness gave evidence about a complainant the defendant is accused of indecently assaulting twice, raping on two occasions and supplying methamphetamine and MDMA (ecstasy).
The complainant previously told the trial she was scared when the man climbed into her bed on a work trip, how their “wild” affair later developed and that he would give her meth “often”.
Referring to a rape charge, she said sex with the man had been non-consensual on that occasion but she did not tell anybody she was raped or “make a statement to say I was raped”.
During questioning by Crown solicitor Anna Pollett on Tuesday, the Crown witness said at one stage she was good friends with this complainant, babysat her children and they socialised together and shared confidences about their relationships.
The witness said she also worked with the defendant for a period of time and attended some events with him and this complainant, as well as making travel bookings on his behalf from time to time.
The complainant appeared “pretty happy” about the affair, which the witness said she did not know about until later.
The defendant was helping to pay the complainant’s rent and allowed her to buy expensive items, and it was clear they were “very smitten over each other“, the witness said.
She also said things changed after the complainant fell pregnant and decided to have a termination.
“She was very upset when they broke up and the defendant reconciled with his wife.”
During questioning by defence lawyer Ron Mansfield KC, the witness said the defendant was pleasant and “very respectful” in his dealings with her.
She did not see any sexually or physically inappropriate actions by the defendant towards the complainant, the witness said.
She said the complainant had never told her about these allegations of sexual offending. The witness said she had seen her consume marijuana and cocaine once.
The woman said the complainant and accused had an on-and-off type of relationship and had “lots of little fights”, but not physical ones.
The witness said it was clear that when they were together, they “loved each other”.
She recalled, however, one occasion when the defendant damaged the complainant’s expensive handbag as he believed she had slept with another man.
The complainant had laughed about it and told her the defendant would “just have to buy her a bigger and better one to say sorry”, the witness said.
The witness also said the complainant regularly showed off her expensive purchases paid for by the defendant.
She said she recalled saying to the complainant that her own boyfriend bought her flowers to say sorry, but the complainant’s boyfriend “bought her Chanel”.
Mansfield asked the witness whether it was fair to say the defendant was “quite charismatic, very driven, good at building relationships with other people, who liked being with him, and quite generous”.
The witness said that was a fair summation of his nature. She said the accused was a “very generous” person and people, particularly women, often asked him to buy them flights or get them tickets to entertainment events.
The witness said both men and women regularly tried to make contact with the defendant to get into events.
The witness said the complainant did not like him receiving that kind of attention.
“Sometimes it resulted in fights or arguments between them.”
The witness was also asked about an event she, the complainant and the defendant attended and where they ended up staying in his hotel room, which only had one bed.
The witness said it was the complainant’s idea and she slept between her (the witness) and the defendant and asked her to “kept it secret and not tell her husband”.
“At this time I didn’t know about their affair so I didn’t think anything was out of the ordinary.”
The witness said after the defendant left his wife, he and the complainant planned to be together but they ended up breaking up.
She said the complainant became “very distant” with her after that and was “partying a lot”.
She also said the complainant clearly wanted the accused to leave his wife to live with her.
“Her ultimate goal was to be his wife,” she said.
The trial, before Justice Layne Harvey and a jury of nine women and three men, is in its sixth week.
Sandra Conchie is a senior journalist at the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post who has been a journalist for 24 years. She mainly covers police, court and other justice stories, as well as general news. She has been a Canon Media Awards regional/community reporter of the year.