Man 'targeted Indian community'

A man who faces multiple sex charges took advantage of his alleged victims' strict Indian upbringing, an Auckland jury has been told.

The 25-year-old man, who has interim name suppression, pleaded not guilty to 34 charges at the start of his High Court trial today.

The counts include rape, blackmail, sexual conduct by threat, unlawful sexual connection and sexual conduct with a person under 16.

The 11 rape charges relate to four of the six complainants, most of whom the man met via internet networking sites, where they had posted their profiles.

Crown prosecutor Josh Shaw said the six did not know each other, apart from two who were school friends.

However, they were all of Indian ethnicity and all came from strict cultural and religious backgrounds, he said.

"The tragic similarities are his deception, his trickery and his manipulation of them to allow him to have his way with them."

One complainant was so concerned about her parents' reaction that they had not been made aware of the court proceedings. Another had made several attempts to take her own life.

Mr Shaw said the offending occurred between July 2006 and May 2008 and the victims could be described as shy, unsophisticated and naive.

Three were 15 at the time of the offences against them.

The oldest was a 22-year-old student who began an on-line relationship with the man in May 2007.

The man, who gave a more flattering description of himself, asked her to send him photos of her and she did.

She was then contacted by a person claiming to be a private investigator hired by her father to check up on her.

This person said she had to pay him $4000 or he would tell her father about what she had been up to.

Mr Shaw said the woman was desperate for this not to happen, as she had been severely disciplined over a previous relationship.

When she told the alleged private investigator that she did not have the money, the latter said she could spread the payments, but she also had to let him have sex with her whenever he wanted.

When she met him to give him an initial amount of cash, he drove her to a motel where she did what she was told for fear that he would get angry.

The woman later went to police, Mr Shaw said.

When spoken to by police, the accused admitted posing as a private investigator, but said he did it on behalf of a friend.

Despite his demand for money from the woman, the man said sex was consensual, adding that he hadn't hit her and she hadn't screamed.

Defence counsel Shane Cassidy told the jury that the information the Crown had provided was "pretty bizarre" and "perhaps reads like a Mills and Boons script".

He said the sex that man had admitted to with the complainants was consensual.

"[He] is guilty by most standards of poor behaviour and his conduct towards most of these women is reprehensible," he said.

"To use a colloquial term, he was a rat bag, but he is not a criminal."

The trial is expected to last three weeks, with the prosecution calling 30 witnesses, including the six complainants.

- NZPA