Two seasonal workers are in court over an alleged sexual assault.
Two seasonal workers are in court over an alleged sexual assault.
Two seasonal workers from Vanuatu allegedly tried to sexually assault a drunk woman soon after she left a Hastings bar.
In the Napier District Court yesterday, a jury of seven women and five men was told by Crown prosecutor Jo Rielly "whatever" may have been about to happen stopped whena sergeant on patrol drove into an alley, the headlights revealing a man with pants down standing over a woman who was on the ground yelling: "Leave me alone."
In an opening address at the trial of 25-year-old Mathieu Batick and Luciano Muluane, 31, Mrs Rielly said the woman leapt to her feet and ran into the arms of a policewoman who had been summoned as back-up after the scene was discovered by a suspicious officer Sergeant Kevin Stewart.
The events happened soon after the woman left the bar after it closed at 3am on the morning of February 9 last year, and were discovered as Mr Stewart went looking for a group of men he had seen in the street.
The court was told the woman had walked from the club when she encountered Batick on the street. He was said to have put his arm around her, and he was alleged to have later told police he pulled the woman from the street into the alley.
He is charged with indecent assault and assault with intent to commit sexual violation, while Muluane is charged with being a party to the alleged assault.
They have pleaded not guilty.
With interpreters being used to translate the evidence, which yesterday included that of the complainant with screens around the dock shielding her from the gaze of the accused, the trial, before Judge Geoff Rea, was expected to continue into tomorrow.
