Broomstick sex assault trial opens

A student was sexually assaulted with a broomstick by one of his close friends, the High Court at Gisborne was told yesterday.

The evidence was given on the first day of the trial of six Napier youths charged with sexually violating and indecently assaulting a student with a broomstick at a party last October 17.

Mark Peter Hagen, Kent Russell Burns, Anthony Richard Lloyd, Gabriel Williams and Daniel Martin Cutbill, all 18, and Rewi Matiu John Gemmell, 17, have pleaded not guilty to sexual violation, attempted sexual violation and two charges of indecent assault.

The trial is before Justice Warwick Gendall and a jury of six men and six women.

The Crown alleges that all six defendants conspired to sexually violate the complainant, then aged 17, while he was sleeping after attending an 18th birthdayparty.

A seventh youth, Andrew James Castles, 18, who inserted the broomstick, pleaded guilty to the sexual violation charges.

His sentencing details have been suppressed until after the trial.

Crown prosecutor Keiran Raftery said the six youths held the complainant down knowing what Castles intended to do, and were therefore just as responsible.



In evidence for the Crown, Castles told the jury he became friends with the complainant about four weeks into the school term and got on well with his family.

On the evening of October 16, he rang the complainant to invite him to a party to celebrate Burns' birthday.

He picked him up and took him to the party, which was attended by about 40 other mostly male students.

Later in the evening, when the complainant was thought to be vomiting in the bathroom, the suggestion was made to shave his eyebrows.

Castles told the court he grabbed a razor and shaved half of each eyebrow. The complainant became angry and smashed a mirror.

However, he carried on drinking before going to sleep in a spare bed.

Castles told the jury that Lloyd had talked about putting a broomstick up someone's backside.

The complainant eventually went to bed in a bedroom that was also occupied by Cutbill and two other students.

Castles said that at the end of the party, when all but the group had gone home, Lloyd again made the suggestion and "the boys just listened and for some reason they agreed to be part of it".

"The broom was there at the time because someone had broken a plate earlier in the night," Castles said.

He said everyone was in a party mood and no one thought of the consequences.

The group went into the bedroom, with Castles holding the broomstick, but they were unable to get the complainant's pants off.

Castles said he wore a beer box over his head and others wore plastic bags.

"We went back into the kitchen area and we all, as a group, decided we would do it again."

He said the group decided they had to plan the second attack better. They decided that each of them would have a different role.

"I had the broom. The rest of the guys were trying to get his pants off or holding him down."

Castles said that on the second occasion the six held the complainant down and he inserted the broomstick about four inches (10cm) into his anus before pulling it out.

"He started to make some noise and was obviously upset, so I grabbed it out and we all left the room."

That was when the group realised the extent of their actions, Castles said.

Castles later broke the broom into several pieces and threw it away outside.

He said the complainant wanted to go home, but was persuaded to stay the night. He was visibly upset the next morning.

Castles denied accusations from Hagen's lawyer, Bruce Davidson, that he had "embellished" his evidence as a result of a deal with the police after his guilty plea.

- NZPA