Witness tells of blackmail

A complainant in a rape trial yesterday said she had sex with the accused after he threatened to tell her father about a relationship she was in.

The complainant said she feared she would be beaten by her father if he found out about the relationship and also about her activities on an internet social networking site.

The woman is one of six complainants, all of Indian descent, in a trial in the High Court at Auckland in which the accused faces multiple sex charges.

The accused, a 25-year-old Auckland man who is also of Indian ethnicity and who has interim name suppression, has pleaded not guilty to 34 charges, including 11 of rape.

Among the other counts are blackmail, sexual conduct by threat, unlawful sexual connection and sexual conduct with a person under 16.

The first of the complainants to give evidence said she had been disciplined by her father in late 2006 over a previous relationship. She said her parents did not approve of the man she was seeing and found out that she had been sleeping with him.

"My father beat me up and I was kicked out for a couple of nights," she told the jury. "In our culture, they expect you to wait until you're married before you have sex."

The woman was 22 when she came in contact with the accused via the internet in May 2007.

During the internet exchanges, he asked several times for a nude photo of her, and she sent him one showing the naked torso of another female.

The man then threatened to tell her father about the fact that she was going out with a new boyfriend and about the photo.

He offered her a "contract" whereby he would keep quiet if she paid him a sum of money and also allowed him to have sex with her whenever he wanted.

He took her to a motel and they had sex because, she said, she felt intimidated and in a "helpless" situation.

Afterwards, the woman went to see a doctor for a check-up and was advised to go to the police.

She went to Otahuhu police station, but did not proceed with a complaint, because a detective told her, in response to her question, that it was likely her parents would find out.

She said her parents were not aware that she was testifying in court.

The hearing is due to resume today.

- NZPA