Dunedin rape trial: Complainant's friends gave accused an ultimatum, court hears

Jahmin Mauna McNeill-Hulme (24) is on trial on seven sex charges against three women. Photo / Supplied

A friend of a rape complainant has described for a jury how he confronted the alleged attacker and found his response "lacking".

Jahmin Mauna McNeill-Hulme (24) is on trial on seven sex charges against three women, spanning 15 months.

One of the friends, Liam*, gave evidence in the Dunedin District Court yesterday that he remembered speaking to the first complainant about the March 2019 incident, from which the first rape charge arose.

She told him she woke up to someone she believed was McNeill-Hulme, having sex with her after she became intoxicated at a party.

However, because of the months that had passed since and the fact he had never seen McNeill-Hulme act like that, Liam told Crown prosecutor Robin Bates that he "took it with a grain of salt".

Another friend, George*, said he remembered McNeill-Hulme expressing an interest in the woman, an interest she did not reciprocate.

Liam, and another witness, recalled her telling them the alleged sex attack happened on the couch, not in the bathroom like the woman said during her evidence earlier in the week.

However, when testifying, one of the complainant's best friends of the time said she could not be sure which one she heard.

Liam said McNeill-Hulme brushed off the incident when asked about it, stating they were both quite drunk.

Days after another alleged incident on December 28, the complainant contacted Liam and George to tell them what had happened in McNeill-Hulme's van when driving her home.

"To my memory, [she told them] that [McNeill-Hulme] basically stopped the van . . . just started being quite predatory," Liam told the court.

The complainant said she had initially refused his sexual advances up to 20 times before freezing as he began masturbating beside her.

Both Liam and George remembered her telling them McNeill-Hulme tried to put his fingers in her mouth.

"McNeill-Hulme refused to move the van until basically he had finished," Liam said.

When they confronted McNeill-Hulme about the incident, he started to deflect the blame, he told the jury.

The defendant allegedly tried to explain how he thought she was okay with it.

McNeill-Hulme's response was "lacking", in George's opinion.

The two friends gave McNeill-Hulme an ultimatum; seek help for his mental health or the complainant would go to the police.

Both men told counsel Anne Stevens QC the defendant's mental health was already a concern, since he had earlier threatened suicide after breaking up with his girlfriend in November.

The trial before Judge Michael Turner and a jury of eight women and four men continue next week.

• Names changed to protect the complainant's identity.