Woman denies plotting to harm DJs' reputation

Peter Chambers (left) and Mark Arona are on trial accused of raping and sexually assaulting an intoxicated woman in a motel room. Photo / File

A woman who has accused two men of raping and sexually assaulting her in a Tauranga motel room while she was drunk denies she tried to set them up to damage their reputations.

She made the denial yesterday, on day three of the jury trial of Mark Arona, 40, and Peter John Chambers, 42, in the Tauranga District Court.

Arona and Chambers, who are well-known hip-hop DJs and music producers, deny the allegations. They claim they had a threesome with the woman and it was consensual.

The complainant was cross-examined yesterday by Chambers' lawyer, Moana Dorset.

Ms Dorset put to the woman that she set the accused up by questioning them about the incident in separate phone calls while they were unaware police were recording the calls.

"But you did that to elicit a response from them which they did not know was being recorded? Didn't you?" she said.

The woman replied: "Absolutely I wanted to know what they did to me ... I was distraught, and I wanted to know why they had done those things to me."

"Mark apologised and told me he had f*****d up. He did more than what he was telling me," she said.

Ms Dorset put to the complainant that she had made up the complaint and had freely walked into the room and initiated the sexual acts.

The woman insisted she had been intoxicated and blacked out and was not in a fit state to consent to anything.

Ms Dorset told the complainant her version of events was in question, particularly in what she claimed she had drunk that night and what she was wearing.

The lawyer noted the amount of alcohol recorded in doctor's medical report differed from what the woman told police a few days later.

The complainant said she accepted there were differences but insisted she was heavily intoxicated and incapable of giving consent. She vehemently denied she had been "very flirty', had freely walked into the room and kissed and cuddled Chambers more than once, and initiated the sexual acts.

Ms Dorset said the woman wore a skimpy dress on the night in question, had seductively encouraged the two men to engage in sexual acts with her. The complainant denied this.

"You were out to get the two accused, weren't you? ... You knew my client Mr Chambers had a lot to lose," the lawyer said.

The witness responded: "We all do. It was horrible, and I just wanted them to tell me what they did to me ... I couldn't fathom how two men could do this to an unconscious body."

The jury also heard from the officer in charge, Sergeant Darren Gabb, who read out a series of texts, voice-mail messages and phone-call exchanges between the accused.

That included the two men discussing being "freaked out" and "getting lawyered up" in preparation for the woman's possible police complaint.

In one exchange, Arona told Chambers what to say when he talked to the complainant in the hope that the rumoured allegations would go away.

The trial before Judge David Cameron continues today.