Whanganui Chronicle
  • Whanganui Chronicle home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Taranaki
  • National Park
  • Whakapapa
  • Ohakune
  • Raetihi
  • Taihape
  • Marton
  • Feilding
  • Palmerston North

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • New Plymouth
  • Whanganui
  • Palmertson North
  • Levin

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Whanganui Chronicle

Man denies forcing sex on sleeping woman

melissa.nightingale@wanganuichronicle.co.nz
Whanganui Chronicle·
17 Aug, 2016 04:37 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article

A Whanganui man denies ever holding a woman down and raping her, or having sex with her while she was asleep, his lawyer says.

One charge of rape has been withdrawn in the trial in the Whanganui District Court for the man, whose name is suppressed.

Three charges remain - one representative charge of rape, and two counts of unlawful sexual connection.

The complainant, who was being cross examined on Wednesday by defence lawyer Peter Brosnahan, said she would often wake to either find the defendant having sex with her, or touching her genitals.

She said she told him it was not okay to do so, and that if he wanted to have sex, he should wake her up first.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"When somebody's asleep, they're not there to engage in that," she said in court.

Mr Brosnahan pointed to the woman's evidence from court on Tuesday where she said there would be occasions where she woke up to the defendant touching her and they would go on to have consensual sex.

But there were other occasions she was upset that he had touched her while she was asleep, instead of waking her up first.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Sometimes you tell us it's okay, sometimes it's not," Mr Brosnahan said.

"How's he gonna know what night it's gonna be?"

The woman said she was never okay with the defendant starting anything with her while she was asleep.

Mr Brosnahan said the defendant denied ever starting intercourse with her while she slept.

He also pointed to the first time the complainant went to the police about the defendant, and how she never mentioned her rape allegations at that point.

The woman told the court she was worried the defendant would pay someone to come and rape her, as he had been "obsessed" with having a threesome or with watching her have sex with somebody else.

She earlier mentioned finding a "string" tied around the casters of the bed, with "nooses" on its ends. She spoke of her fear the string was for harming her or putting around her neck.

She said it was "horrendous" leaving the string where it was for four days until the police could come and take photos of it.

Mr Brosnahan showed the string to the jury, demonstrating that it was a thin, stretchy material.

"It's not a noose, it's a tied little wristlet," he said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The trial continues before Judge Chris Sygrove and a jury of six men and six women.

Save
    Share this article

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui Chronicle

Freight off-track: Taranaki Line closed after train derailment

04 Nov 02:07 AM
Whanganui Chronicle

Hint of summer weather for Whanganui

04 Nov 12:34 AM
Whanganui Chronicle

Groundbreaking New Zealand law wins global award

03 Nov 10:34 PM

Sponsored

Poor sight leaving kids vulnerable

22 Sep 01:23 AM
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Freight off-track: Taranaki Line closed after train derailment
Whanganui Chronicle

Freight off-track: Taranaki Line closed after train derailment

The Taranaki Line is closed while KiwiRail clears the train.

04 Nov 02:07 AM
Hint of summer weather for Whanganui
Whanganui Chronicle

Hint of summer weather for Whanganui

04 Nov 12:34 AM
Groundbreaking New Zealand law wins global award
Whanganui Chronicle

Groundbreaking New Zealand law wins global award

03 Nov 10:34 PM


Poor sight leaving kids vulnerable
Sponsored

Poor sight leaving kids vulnerable

22 Sep 01:23 AM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Whanganui Chronicle e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Whanganui Chronicle
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP