Police rape trial: Officer found policewoman 'hysterically crying' after alleged rape by colleague

The accused officer, who has interim name suppression, is on trial in the Auckland District Court. Photo / File

A constable says he found a fellow police officer in a motel room with her back against a wall and crying hysterically after she was allegedly raped by one of their colleagues.

A police officer, who has interim name suppression, was arrested after allegations emerged from a Kerikeri motel on the night of February 4 last year and early hours of the next day.

He was one of several deployed to help police patrol Waitangi Day events at the Treaty Grounds.

The accused man has been on trial for the past week in the Auckland District Court, charged with indecently assaulting and sexual violating his female workmate.

Today, the jury heard from another police officer who was staying at the motel.

It was during the early hours of February 5 last year when he found the alleged victim with her "back against the wall, legs up, head down and crying" in one of the motel rooms.

"She just cried," he said.

"I came inside and sat down on the bed and she looked up at me and she was pretty much crying hysterically. She told me she was sleeping and then she woke up to [the accused] f***ing her."

The constable, whose name is suppressed to protect the identity of the complainant said he was shocked by the allegation.

"I just told her, I said I was sorry, I didn't know what else to say. I didn't want to console her physically, I knew it wasn't a good idea ... just the circumstances of what had happened, it was pretty much a crime scene now.

"She was really upset ... hysterically crying non-stop, kinda short of breath," he said.

Before he went to the policewoman's room, he added, the accused had woken him from a deep sleep and "was very stressed out".

"He was saying, 'what am going to do? What am I going to do?"

The constable said the defendant claimed he and the policewoman were "hooking up".

He told the court he forgot to mention his interaction with the accused to investigating police later on that day but has recalled it "as time went by".

In a statement, the constable said the accused uttered to him: "Something's happened with me and [the complainant]."

"He said that she was crying and really upset, I asked 'why was she crying?'" the statement reads.

"And he told me 'that they hooked up', and while they were doing it she stopped and crying told him she didn't want to do it anymore."

Earlier in the night, the constable said some of the other officers at the motel noticed "something" between the accused and complainant and began teasing the defendant.

He said another officer asked the accused, "you been fishing?"

According to audio from the motel's CCTV, the defendant allegedly replied: "Yeah, but all I got was some seaweed and a gumboot."

Raucous laughter followed from the policemen.

The incident was one of two which occurred that night, the court has heard.

It is alleged the accused also indecently assaulted the policewoman when the pair were together in one of the motel units.

"Almost immediately he has tried it on and closed the door," she explained earlier in the trial.

"I had one hand up across my face so he could not kiss me and one hand holding his wrist."

The complainant said she didn't notify the other police officers at the motel of the first alleged assault because she didn't want to make a scene.

"I just told him to pull his head in … and left it at that," she said.

During a day-and-a-half of cross-examination this week, the defendant's lawyer, Paul Borich QC, claimed the complainant was never asleep and is fabricating a rape claim.

He has told the jury any sexual contact was consensual and the second incident was a "pre-arranged hook-up" between his client and the alleged victim.

Paul Borich QC is defending the accused police officer. Photo / Doug Sherring

Borich also asked if the woman's allegations came about because of a night of regret and embarrassment.

"You had a choice to be a cheater, squad rule breaker, or a rape victim and you chose the latter," Borich said.

The policewoman said: "I did not cheat ... with [the accused], I was sexually assaulted by [the accused]."

A false complaint, she said, would create more problems for herself than telling the truth.

"I have told the truth, I've told the truth from the beginning and that is the truth," she said.

CCTV footage from the night has also shown lewd behaviour by several officers at the motel, including a senior sergeant stripping and exposing himself in front of the beer-drinking group.

A drinking game was played by the officers where they chugged beers out of a hollowed-out police baton.

The jury has also watched CCTV of the accused policeman "creeping" across the motel courtyard and into his alleged victim's bedroom. He can be seen slowly opening the unlocked door to the complainant's room at 2.34am.

The accused officer has been stood down from the police and a separate employment investigation will be conducted, Auckland's Detective Superintendent Dave Lynch has said.

An application to continue his interim name suppression was declined by Judge Evangelos Thomas but the decision has been appealed and suppression will continue until the challenge can be determined.

The trial continues.