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His lawyer, Ron Mansfield, KC, argued the man never strangled the woman and acted in self-defence toremove her from the apartment after she lashed out.
Police laid one charge of strangulation and three of assault against the man after the fracas in his apartment in the early hours of March 11, 2022.
He says he never strangled her and was forced to remove the woman from his apartment after she became agitated and began biting and scratching him, something he and other witnesses said she could be prone to do after drinking.
After deliberating for more than six hours over two days, the Auckland District Court jury returned the verdicts of not guilty on all four charges on Friday afternoon.
The man hugged family members and friends as the court adjourned and he was released from the dock. He lost name suppression at the start of his trial but still cannot be named pending an appeal.
The complainant and her supporters were not in court for the verdict.
She said he lunged her like an “MMA fighter” before striking her on the jaw, straddling her, strangling her then dragging her out of the apartment and tossing her into the hallway.
He then returned to open the door and push her on to the floor once more, the young woman said.
The man acknowledged using force but said it was only in self-defence to remove the woman from the apartment after what he said was the latest attack out of the blue after the woman had been drinking and become upset with him.
The woman, in her lengthy stint in the witness boxing during the three-week trial, acknowledged having bitten the man on previous occasions.
But she said it was only in response to what she described as ongoing abuse from the man.
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 this year. Photo / George Block
The trial heard the couple lived a life of luxury funded by the man, a successful Auckland businessman, where money was not an issue and trips away with other high-flyers were common.
On the night before the alleged assault, the couple were having a nightcap at the nearby apartment of a prominent New Zealand property developer, who gave evidence at the trial.
Crown prosecutor Pip McNabb said the man repeatedly invoked his financial power over her but belittled her work as a model, telling her at a dinner the night before to “go and sit with the other housewives”.
Mansfield said many aspects of the woman’s account did not add up. When locked out of the apartment, she messaged the man’s property developer friend asking him to tell the defendant to let her back in.
At no point that night did she mention to anyone that she’d been strangled, and the fact she wanted to get back into the apartment was inconsistent, Mansfield said, with her being repeatedly assaulted by the man inside.
She also texted him to say, “This is going to get very ugly,” and, “I know my rights but I’d rather do this nicely,” Mansfield said.
The man had employed her and paid her a salary, though she only worked sporadically for his business, so she could show an income and obtain a mortgage for an investment property.
She had gone to a doctor, who reported she had an abrasion on her neck, soreness and swelling to the jaw and concussion symptoms.
McNabb said these were consistent with strangulation and an assault, but Mansfield said they were just the result of his client having to defend himself from the woman’s attack.
The KC also suggested she may have been motivated by a desire to gather evidence for her financial claim, which did not prove successful.
