A leading figure in the New Zealand entertainment industry is on trial in the High Court at Rotorua. Photo / Andrew Warner
A leading entertainment figure on trial for serious sexual offences says a woman was talking to him about sex before willingly licking cocaine off his finger.
The defendant said the pair went to her bedroom and he tried to kiss her on her bed, but they stopped when the woman said her partner, who was out of town, would not be happy with what they were doing.
The man is on trial in the High Court at Rotorua, where he is defending 25 charges including rape, sexual assault and drug-related offending.
The charges relate to nine women over several years. The man has interim name suppression and some details relating to the man and the complainants cannot be published for legal reasons.
The man has taken the stand this week to give evidence, telling the jury he had sex with up to 40 women over the years while he was married, and had been clean from drugs and alcohol for two years.
He is accused of using his position in the industry to get what he wanted sexually from women, but the defence alleges the women have re-imagined consensual sexual encounters as being “creepy” to support the woman who made the first complaint to police.
The defence also alleges police “went searching” for more complainants to boost their “numbers” despite the sexual contact with the man being consensual.
In relation to the cocaine incident, the jury previously heard from the woman involved during Crown evidence. She said the defendant asked her to pick him up from a party where he had been drinking and doing drugs. They went back to her house, drank alcohol and listened to music.
It was the woman’s evidence the man put white powder on his finger, stood behind her and forced his finger into her mouth, despite her earlier telling him she needed to remain drug-free for reasons that cannot be reported.
She said the defendant told her the reasons were “stuffed” up and she “might as well have a good time”. She then willingly took more.
She said during her evidence when they went to the bedroom she shared with her partner, she felt uneasy and under the influence of drugs and alcohol, repeatedly telling him her partner wouldn’t be happy with it.
The woman told the jury the defendant put his belt under the door to stop anyone from entering.
When she stopped the sexual encounter, she said he got angry, ripped the belt out and left. She told her partner later in the day what had happened and her partner advised her to block him on social media.
Under questioning from his lawyer, Ron Mansfield KC, today the defendant gave a different version of events. He said the mood was good while they were drinking at her house and it progressed to flirting, with her telling him what sexual positions she liked.
He said he set up a “couple of lines” of cocaine but the woman explained why she couldn’t have any.
He said he did one of the lines then licked his finger and put the other line on it, intending to have it himself.
However, he said the woman then licked his finger, taking the cocaine while smiling at him.
Mansfield asked if he got behind the woman and forced his finger into her mouth and he replied: “Never”.
He explained what happened in the bedroom and how she had decided not to go through with it because of her partner so they went back into the lounge and he left. He said he didn’t put a belt under the bedroom door.
The defendant said he later spoke with the woman’s partner about how he had been drinking, doing lines of cocaine and tried to kiss her. He said the woman’s partner didn’t seem to mind given “nothing much happened” but he requested the defendant apologise to his partner, which he said he did.
The defendant said nothing changed with his relationship with the woman and her partner in the coming years and he was surprised when he was charged with indecently assaulting her years later.
He said after he was charged, he met with the woman’s partner about another matter, and afterwards asked him what the charges were about because he said he was confused.
He said no threats were made to the man and he was further surprised the next day to find the man had gone to police and laid a complaint, which led to the defendant being charged with attempting to pervert the cause of justice.
In total, the defendant has pleaded not guilty to 10 charges of indecent assault, four of sexual violation by rape, three of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, two of attempted sexual violation, two of burglary, one of assault with intent to commit sexual violation, one of supplying MDMA, one of supplying methamphetamine and one of willfully attempting to pervert the course of justice.
The trial is before Justice Layne Harvey and a jury of nine women and three men.
Kelly Makiha is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.