During cross-examination today Auckland lawyer Jo Scott accused the complainant of fabricating the claims for multiple reasons, including for attention and to get her ex-boyfriend back, which the complainant denied.
Scott also claimed the female defendant had not, as was alleged, driven the complainant around, bought her anything, or paid for her haircut.
“The truth is, [the female defendant] never bought you anything, did she?” Scott said.
“I don’t think a 15-year-old that doesn’t have a job is going to stump up hundreds of dollars for a haircut,” the complainant said.
Scott also said because the woman only had a learner’s licence at the time, she couldn’t have driven the complainant around.
However, the complainant said it explained why her driving was “poor”.
Scott also alleged the complainant’s claim that the woman had revealed her breast implant scars to her was untrue.
The complainant replied by questioning how she would have known about the scars if this had not happened.
The lawyer also said the victim’s claims she allegedly bathed with the woman did not occur.
“The whole thing about baths is made up isn’t it?”
Again, the complainant denied this.
The complainant’s boyfriend at the time was asked whether she was partying often back then and said he didn’t believe so and denied feeling “pressure” to support her claims.
Another focus of the cross-examination of the complainant was a TV interview the woman had done several years after the incident and whether comments she made in parts of the raw footage aligned with those in her police video interview from seven years prior.
Yesterday, the Crown alleged the complainant was first given MDMA at a sports event, and then twice at the pair’s home.
“They told me if I wanted to get anywhere in [her sport] I would have to sleep with the right people,” the complainant said in her police interview.
The woman, who is now an adult, said in that footage on the second occasion she took the drug at their home and took a shower because she was sweaty.
When she walked out again, she said they had lit coloured candles and started suggesting “weird things” to her, including “threesomes” and saying they had a special connection with her.
“It’s just sex, sex doesn’t mean anything,” she alleged the pair said, to which she responded that she had a boyfriend.
While she was wearing only a towel, she said the man massaged her as the woman lay alongside her.
On the next occasion, the teen was at their house again and although she really didn’t want to take the pill, they were “pushing for it”, she said to the police interviewer.
Later she claimed he told her taking the drug would “completely cure” her shoulder and on the third and final occasion, the victim said she took three and a half pills.
That night she said both she and the woman had a bath together and he sat on the toilet with the lid down.
After this, she said he massaged her breasts, pelvic area and put his penis in between her upper thighs.
The trial continues tomorrow.
Katie Harris is an Auckland-based journalist who covers social issues including sexual assault, workplace misconduct, crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2020.
