Mid Northern rugby players Inoke Nakadavotu (top) and Cameron Hill are on trial over allegations of a sexual assault on a woman. Photos / Facebook, NZME
Mid Northern rugby players Inoke Nakadavotu (top) and Cameron Hill are on trial over allegations of a sexual assault on a woman. Photos / Facebook, NZME
WARNING: This article discusses allegations of sexual assault and may be upsetting to some readers.
Two rugby players who once shared the field are now sharing a courtroom dock where they are accused of orchestrating a sexual encounter a woman says she never agreed to.
Cameron Hill, 26, and InokeNakadavotu, 27, are on trial at the Whangārei District Court on one charge each of unlawful sexual connection by sexual violation.
In Crown openings on Monday the jury heard how the two Mid Northern premier team rugby players were drinking at a Whangārei bar where they met the woman and her friends.
The Crown said the woman knew Hill but had never met Nakadavotu.
After the club closed, people travelled in two taxis to Hill’s parents’ house.
When everyone left, the woman stayed behind watching a movie in the lounge with Hill and Nakadavotu, who is known as Nox.
She then went into a bedroom where she had consensual sex with Hill. The Crown and defence both agree on those facts, which are not an issue in the trial.
Afterwards, Hill left the room and the woman felt someone get into the bed.
The Crown said she assumed it was Hill but when she realised it was Nakadavotu, who was allegedly sexually violating her, she jumped out of bed, covered herself and yelled “what the f***?”
Nakadavotu then allegedly ran out of the room.
The Crown said she went into the lounge where Hill was sitting and asked what was going on but he said he did not know what she was talking about.
“It is the Crown case he knew,” prosecutor Danette Cole told the jury.
The woman became upset and wanted to go home, but Hill calmed her down and she went back to sleep.
‘Threesome??? oh haha’
By morning, the court heard she was confused about what had happened and received a text message from a friend that people were saying she had had a threesome.
Inoke Nakadavotu allegedly went into a room and sexually violated a woman. Photo / Facebook
The Crown revealed text messages sent between Hill and Nakadavotu from 3am to 4am, which they say show the pair planned to take advantage of the woman.
“Threesome??? oh haha,” Hill said in a message he allegedly sent to Nakadavotu.
“The Crown says the principal offender is Mr Nakadavotu, he is the one alleged to have done the criminal act. Mr Hill is a party to the sexual violation and therefore equally guilty.”
Nakadavotu’s lawyer Amelia Roberts said her client accepts the text messages were sent while they were sitting on the couch but they were joking.
After Nakadavotu went to bed, Roberts said Hill woke Nakadavotu and told him to go into the room.
“He says he checked it was okay for him to come in. It is the defence case [suppressed] indicated that she wanted him in there,” Roberts said.
Roberts said when the woman told him to stop, “or words to that effect”, he did.
“That is the best indication of whether he was trying to do something without her consent,” Roberts told the jury.
“Is the complainant telling the truth of what happened that night or is her memory coloured by what she was told by others and perhaps embarrassment?”
Hill’s lawyer Arthur Fairley said two trials were going on and the jury needed to listen to the evidence about whether Hill was a party to the principal offending.
“That’s the broader issue in the case.”
The trial is expected to last five days before Judge Taryn Bayley.
Shannon Pitman is a Whangārei-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ngāpuhi/ Ngāti Pūkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.
