‘Monster’ takes abducted woman to remote area off Hastings-Taihape road and rapes her

The woman was taken to a remote area out of phone coverage, off the Taihape road. NZME photo by Warren Buckland

This story discusses rape and abduction and may be distressing for some readers.

• A man duped his partner’s female relative into getting into his vehicle by saying he needed help buying a birthday present.
• He took her to a remote location and raped her repeatedly.
• Now he’s been jailed for 10 years and eight months.

A woman escaped from a terrifying rape ordeal in a remote forestry track after she managed to lock her abductor out of his car and drive away.

The man had tricked the woman into getting into the vehicle by saying he needed her help to get a birthday present for his partner, who was a relative of hers.

Now the man has appeared in the Napier District Court charged with a raft of offences against the woman, his partner, and another woman who was his partner previously.

“You are a monster,” a sister of the abducted woman told him in a statement to court, describing the effect the drug addict’s actions had on her family.

“Forever is not a long enough time to serve in prison for the pain you have caused. And I hope you never find peace,” she said.

The man pleaded guilty to three charges of rape, four of unlawful sexual connection, along with administering methamphetamine and unlawful detention, in respect of the woman he abducted.

Judge Russell Collins said the way the woman was restrained was a "particularly sadistic" act. Photo / NZME

He also admitted injuring one of his former partners with intent to injure and impeding the breathing of the other by strangulation.

Both the ex-partners have described being choked by the man during incidents of domestic violence, and one fled to a neighbour with her hands cable-tied.

Judge Russell Collins sent the man to prison for 10 years and eight months.

Napier Crown Solicitor, Steve Manning, said the man had “swung a wrecking ball” through the lives of many people.

“The harm that he has caused is immeasurable.”

The man’s name cannot be published as this could identify his victims, who have name suppression.

In the case of the abducted woman, he fooled her into getting into his vehicle in Hastings in November 2023.

He then drove her more than 60km along the rugged road between Hawke’s Bay and Taihape, taking her out of phone coverage and ignoring her pleas to be taken home.

He was armed with a hunting knife, behaving erratically and smoking methamphetamine as he drove, court documents say.

The woman tried to send a message telling a friend to track her phone, but her device lost coverage before the message could be sent.

The man drove up numerous forestry tracks and the woman’s fear intensified. She had no idea where she was when he parked in a remote location.

During her ordeal, the woman was raped three times, forced to commit other sex acts, and made to smoke methamphetamine against her will.

“The complainant was fearful she was going to be killed,” according to a Crown summary of facts.

The man tied the woman to the passenger seat with cable ties and a strop which he looped around her neck and secured to her thigh.

As she moved her leg, the strop tightened around her neck.

Judge Collins called tying the woman in this way a “particularly sadistic act”.

Opportunity to flee

However, after moving location and cutting the woman’s bonds, the man made the mistake of getting out of the vehicle to urinate.

“The complainant used this opportunity to flee. She jumped into the driver’s seat and immediately locked the doors,” the summary of facts said.

She reversed quickly and soon found herself back on the main road, driving in what she thought was the direction of Hastings.

She flashed her lights and sounded the horn to get the attention of people in another vehicle, who told her she was going in the wrong direction.

She followed them back towards Hastings and they pulled over at Fernhill, where she used their phone to call her mother, who called police.

Meanwhile, the man had been seen walking barefoot along the road by someone who knew him.

That person stopped and the man asked for a ride, but the motorist drove off and called police once they got within cellphone coverage.

Police drove up the road and arrested him.

The woman who was abducted said the ordeal had been a complete violation of her body, her trust and her identity.

Eighteen months later she suffers anxiety, panic attacks and flashbacks every day. She was frightened to step outside her home and her guard was “always up”.

“One minute I’m doing great in life, the next I’m trapped in a memory I never asked for,” she said.

Defence counsel Ron Mansfield KC said the man had lifelong addiction issues and was committed to addressing them.

He said the man could not be more remorseful.

“You have a man before you who completely understands the damage he has caused,” Mansfield told the judge.

Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of frontline experience as a probation officer.