After deliberating late into the night, a jury found a Northland man guilty of raping a teenage hitch-hiker.
The jury of seven women and five men in the High Court at Whangarei returned their verdicts at 11.19pm yesterday after 10 hours deliberation.
Abel Wira, 39, unemployed, of Kaitaia, was found guilty of
raping an 18-year- old woman on or about March 22 this year.
He was also found guilty on charges of kidnapping, indecent assault, and unlawful sexual connection.
The jury found Wira not guilty on a second rape charge, one count of robbery, and another charge of unlawful sexual connection.
Justice Colin Nicholson remanded Wira in custody to December 9 for sentence.
Crown prosecutor Mike Smith said in his closing address the 18-year-old woman had been a consistent and reliable witness.
Giving evidence over two days, she told the court how she had been hitch-hiking from Whangarei to Kerikeri when she accepted a lift with Wira, just north of Kamo.
She said that she was raped twice by Wira in the car at locations north of Kerikeri. She had feigned unconsciousness in the hope he would not touch her.
"She made it clear she didn't want this to happen," Mr Smith said.
When Wira stopped at a Hikurangi house about 7am she was able to flee and stop a passing motorist who took her to police.
During the trial evidence was read to the court from a forensic scientist who conducted DNA testing on two pubic hairs and semen found in the woman's pubic area.
The scientist concluded the samples were "10 million million" times more likely to have come from Wira than any other male.
Wira told the court that he had sex but it was consensual.
- NORTHERN ADVOCATE (WHANGAREI)
