A woman who says she was repeatedly raped over four weeks has denied a suggestion from a defence lawyer that her attacker turned up with chocolates and flowers.
Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
The woman told the High Court in Auckland that she answered a personal advertisement in the local newspaper and a short time later, a man turned up at her door.
She said he stayed for four weeks, attacked her nearly every day and on one occasion forced her to perform a sex act in a car while her children sat in the backseat.
The man, aged in his 70s, has name suppression and faces 12 charges relating to the rape of three women and a girl.
The woman said the man turned up on her doorstep with an overnight bag.
The solo mother of three young children said she did not want him to stay and described him as looking "creepy". The man ended up staying four weeks.
She said she was scared of the man and he eventually made her walk down to the local shops to use a pay phone and quit her job. Asked what she thought of her job, she said she loved it.
She said the man wanted sex every day and she had no choice in the matter.
The woman said on one occasion she was so scared she called out to her children. She said the man put his arm around her neck. He told her that in one move he could break her neck.
There were constant threats.
She described how the man touched her daughter on her chest as they sat in the lounge room on the couch.
She called her daughter away. The woman said she kept telling the man to leave.
The woman said eventually she spotted an opportunity to escape.
She noticed the man was far enough away from her not to be able to catch her. She rushed out of the house and called out to her neighbour next door.
Her neighbour came over and the man left in a taxi a short time later.
Under cross-examination by the man's lawyer Andrew McKenzie, the woman was asked if the man bought chocolates and flowers. He also asked if her children were excited by the man's arrival. The woman said "absolutely not".
She confirmed she had originally told police she saw the man with his hand on her daughter's shoulder but got that wrong.
Mr McKenzie suggested she was making up the allegations against his client. The woman said that made her really angry and the allegations were true.
When Mr McKenzie said he had no further questions, the woman replied: "Thank God."
The woman's daughter is expected to give evidence on Friday.
The trial, before Justice Lang and a jury, is due to finish in three weeks' time.
