'She didn't say no', says central Otago shearer charged with raping ex-partner

The accused put his children in a car and then raped their mother in his cabin, Dunedin District Court was told.

Warning: This article contains evidence that some people may find upsetting.

A Central Otago shearer allegedly raped his ex-partner in his cabin after putting their three young children into a vehicle outside.

The Alexandra man is on trial before the Dunedin District Court after pleading not guilty to attempted unlawful sexual connection and rape.

The man told police after the incident in October last year that the pair had sex but that it had been consensual.

He told police: "She didn't say no''.

The complainant said she had gone to the defendant's shearing quarters to drop off some laundry after he had sent her irate text messages.

Even before entering the witness box to give evidence, the woman was in tears and she sobbed throughout her testimony yesterday.

She said she initially spoke with her ex-partner as she sat in her vehicle but when she became scared by his demeanour, she made to get out to call police.

The defendant allegedly dragged her back in and demanded she and the children follow him to his tiny abode.

"I went into the room because I knew if we didn't, something was going to happen,'' she said.

The complainant told the court the man berated her telling her "everyone was laughing at him'' over revelations she had cheated on him.

She denied that she had cheated on him.

The back and forth continued for about five minutes, the woman said.

By that stage tensions were high.

"Who was crying?'' Crown prosecutor Robin Bates asked.

"I was crying, my son was yelling at him telling him to 'leave mum alone', my daughter was yelling at him,'' the complainant said.

"So I lied to him and told him I'd slept with somebody else.''

She said it initially calmed the defendant.

He bundled the three kids into the vehicle outside and allegedly told the woman to get back into the room - "then he shut the curtains and locked the door''.

The complainant told the jury she was standing in the middle of the room crying.

She said he told her to remove her clothes.

"This is going to happen,'' he allegedly said.

The court heard the man tried to take off the woman's pants but she resisted.

When she was sitting on the edge of the bed, the defendant then tried to force her to perform a sex act, which she again avoided.

Eventually though, she said she ended up on the bed and was raped.

"I was lying on the bed with my hands covering my face, crying,'' the complainant said.

The defendant allegedly demanded she calm down and stop crying before letting the children back into the room.

"When we finally left, he said he didn't hate me,'' the woman told the court.

Counsel Sarah Saunderson-Warner told the jury there would be little dispute about the lead up to October 26.

"You're going to have to decide what happened in that cabin and whether it was consensual,'' she said.

The defence case was that it was and that the allegedly attempted sex act preceding it had not happened.

The trial before Judge Michael Crosbie and a jury of eight women and four men continues.