Trainee cop faces 'strong likelihood' of rape conviction

A trainee policeman charged with choking a prostitute unconscious and raping her faces a "strong likelihood" of being convicted, a judge says.

The 32-year-old was linked to the 2003 attack during a routine fingerprint exercise at the New Zealand Police College last September, when his prints allegedly matched those found at the scene of the attack.

The recruit's fingerprints were taken during a training exercise and entered into the national crime database with those of his fellow trainees.

He was arrested when his print matched him to an outstanding arrest warrant for a serious Christchurch assault.

In a court statement, the victim said she thought she was going to die as she was choked.

"I remember seeing hatred in his eyes, like he felt nothing, like I was nothing," she said.

The accused man has been suspended from police training on full pay, but denies he was responsible for the attack, almost two years before he enrolled to become a police officer.

At a depositions hearing in the Christchurch District Court yesterday, Judge Michael Green ordered that the man stand trial on charges of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and sexual violation.

There was a "strong likelihood, in my view, that he will be convicted", the judge said.

He refused an application to suppress the man's name, but an interim suppression order was made until 4.30pm today for an appeal.

The man's lawyer, James Rapley, said his client still hoped to become a police officer.

Mr Rapley questioned whether his client was aware he was giving his fingerprints to police for the purpose of a criminal investigation.

The Herald viewed the summary of facts outlining the case last year, but police obtained a court order to prevent publication.

The victim said she was in Christchurch's red light district when she was approached by a man between 4am and 5am on March 15, 2003.

He offered to pay $150 for sex and they drove to her flat, where the man had to help her through a window because she did not have a key.

She said they were sitting in bed when she asked to be paid before sex.

"He reached around into his back pocket as if he was going to pull his wallet out and then suddenly he grabbed me around the throat with one hand."

She said she was helpless to fight back as her attacker held her down and straddled her. They fell off the bed and he choked her with both hands.

"He had long arms because I couldn't get my hands to his face," she said. "I reached down to grab his testicles as hard as I could, but he didn't even flinch.

"I just stopped struggling because there wasn't anything I could do. I thought my eyeballs were going to pop out of my head and I couldn't breathe. I thought to myself, 'This is it'. I thought I was going to die."

The next thing she remembered was her boyfriend banging on her window. Her attacker was gone, and her dress ripped off.

The woman's boyfriend at the time appeared in court yesterday to give evidence handcuffed to a police detective, with another policeman standing by. However, after only a few minutes in the witness box he refused to answer further questions.

Police fingerprint expert Helen McLeod said impressions taken from the window where the woman climbed into the flat matched the accused man's prints.

Questioned by Mr Rapley, Detective Sergeant Corrie Parnell agreed that another police trainee had originally been questioned and a mix-up required fingerprints to be retaken from recruits.

He agreed that the form asking for prints from the accused said it was to eliminate him from inquiries rather than for evidential purposes.