Christchurch rapist pleads guilty

A woman was too frightened to scream but continued to cry silently during a riverside rape in Christchurch, a court was told today.

Lorin Yarrall, 28, pleaded guilty to four charges of raping or sexually violating the woman.

Judge Michael Crosbie at Christchurch District Court remanded him in custody for a Crown sentencing on July 14.

He called for a pre-sentence report and an emotional harm report on the 19-year-old victim.

Crown prosecutor Barnaby Hawes said the woman was walking home alone late at night, having become separated from a group of friends, when Yarrall grabbed her from behind beside the Avon River in Fitzgerald Avenue.

He choked her unconscious. She woke to find she had been undressed, and he then raped her, and performed oral sex, and anal sex.

He said she feared for her life and was too frightened to scream, but had cried silently during the rape.

- NZPA