Auckland businessman trial: Complainant in strangulation case later sought $100k from alleged abuser, jury hears

An Auckland business figure on trial accused of strangling and repeatedly assaulting his then-girlfriend says she sent him a demand for $100,000 after he was charged.

The man is giving evidence in his own defence during his trial before Judge Paul Murray and a jury in the Auckland District Court after pleading not guilty to three charges of assault and one of strangulation. He lost name suppression at the start of his trial but still cannot be named pending an appeal.

Today he said the woman, who was an employee at his business as well as his girlfriend, sent him a letter seeking about $100,000 with claims about their relationship.

Earlier in the trial, the young woman said the successful Auckland businessman lunged at her like a mixed-martial arts fighter after a boozy night out before striking her, causing her to fall to the ground and hit her head.

He then straddled and strangled her before violently bundling her out of his apartment and throwing her on the ground, she alleged.

The couple frequently mixed in Auckland high-society circles. Before returning to the apartment on the night in question they had been at the nearby apartment of a prominent New Zealand property figure. The woman says he was so drunk their friends asked him to take him home, spurring what she says was his violent attack on her.

His lawyer Ron Mansfield KC says it was in fact his client who was under attack that night in March 2022. As she had done previously during their tumultuous relationship when she was drunk, she lashed out, biting and scratching the man, Mansfield alleged.

He was using an appropriate level of force for self defence under the law when he removed her from his apartment, and never strangled her, the KC said.

The defendant entered the witness box on Wednesday afternoon and his evidence continued into Thursday, reaching the night in question.

Earlier, he told the court how he had signed her on as an employee with his business on a salary of $70,000 a year, so she could show a regular income and obtain a mortgage to invest in property, though he said she only worked sporadically for his business. Earlier he had paid her $300 a week and helped her develop her business interests, he said.

An Auckland businessman accused of assaulting a woman in March 2022 sits in court on the first day of his trial in the Auckland District Court on November 26, 2024. Photo / George Block

He said they enjoyed a largely happy relationship together, though she told the trial she endured psychological, verbal and physical abuse.

During her time in the witness box, she acknowledged having previously bitten the man during what she described as their physical altercations, but said it was only in response to his abuse.

After he was arrested by police at the same downtown Auckland apartment where she says he strangled her, he did not hear directly from her again.

However, a letter of demand later arrived from a firm of solicitors she had engaged seeking $100,000 from his business, he told Mansfield during his evidence-in-chief.

“It was claims of a relationship between employer and employee,” the man said.

Describing the night of the alleged assault, the man said he had been happy to come home from his friend’s apartment, rejecting the complainant’s suggestion he was aggrieved she had made him come home because he was grossly intoxicated.

He said he had gone to bed but shortly afterwards found the woman kneeling on the bed beside him, saying his name as if trying to wake him up.

He said this behaviour seemed in line with previous drunken incidents so he had some idea what could be coming. Earlier, he recounted a previous incident where the woman had become so distressed she had started banging her head against a stone benchtop.

As she was on the bed, he said he asked the woman not to do this again and asked if they could instead talk in the morning, he said.

She then lunged at him and began biting and scratching, he alleged.

He said he tried to restrain her and protect himself but he was constrained by the sheets and they fell on to the floor.

According to his account, she continued to scratch and bite him, so he restrained her, eventually getting hold of her arms. She was screaming, but he could not work out what she was saying or what the issue was, he said.

After he managed to grab hold of both her arms, she sat up and bit him on the thumb, he said. Earlier, she acknowledged biting him during the fracas, but said it was in self defence as he forcefully pushed and bundled her out of the apartment.

Ron Mansfield KC says the businessman acted in self defence during a drunken attack by the woman. Photo / Michael Craig

The man said he then grabbed her in a “bear hug” and moved her to the door, taking her outside then locking the apartment.

She began screaming and texting him, and later his friend whose apartment they had been visiting earlier in the evening. His friend later called him and asked if he could let her into the apartment so she could fetch her things. The man replied with a text message showing an image of his bleeding thumb, an image that has been shown to the jury.

He alleged he opened the door and was attacked again almost immediately.

“She leans in and as hard as she can she bites me on the shoulder,” he said.

“I had no choice. I had to open the door and put her back out again.”

The woman ended up staying the night at the apartment of one of his neighbours. A medical examination would find she had a concussion and an abrasion to her neck, though Mansfield has said this was was a minor, “non-specific” injury sustained as his client tried to restrain her.

The trial continues.

George Block is an Auckland-based reporter with a focus on police, the courts, prisons and defence. He joined the Herald in 2022 and has previously worked at Stuff in Auckland and the Otago Daily Times in Dunedin.