The courts Multiple rape alleged—twice in one night

Press, 1 June 1977, Page 4

The courts Multiple rape alleged—twice in one night

A girl aged IS, told the: 'Magistrates Court yesterday, that she was raped by four Imen on April 13, and that three of them returned a few hours later and raped ; her again. Darryl Ivor Wheeler, aged 21; Wayne Maurice Crump, aged 20; and Joseph Janies Ward, aged 25, were charged with raping the girl at a flat in Cashel Street on April 13 and 14. Matthew James White, aged 21, was accused of raping her on April 13. At the lower court hearing, two Justices of the Peace, Messrs R. M. Nay-j .smith and W. J. Hollobon,! [Ordered interim suppression| ,of the complainant’s natae. j i Mr D. Maze appeared for Wheeler and White; Mr R. J. iMurfitt appeared for Crump,; ;and Ward presented his own | defence. The girl told the Court that about 11 p.m. on April 13 she was in bed with Neville, one of the occupants of the flat. His flatmate, Alex, was preparing for bed, ■ when there was a knock on

:the door, and four boys came up to the bedroom. i “I was in bed with just my panties on,” the girl I said. “The boys began sayling nasty things, and one I took off his belt, and said I Neville had better watch |out, or he would get it iaround his head.” The complainant pointed Ito the accused Ward, and said that she had met him a couple of days before at the flat. She knew him as “Doc.” She said that two of the boys ripped the blankets and sheet off the bed. When she began to scream, one hit her in the mouth. i Three of the youths then j raped her, and as the fourth, I (the defendant, White) was i attempting to someone yelled that the police had arI rived. One of the boys ran 'down the stairs, and the other three disappeared out the back, she said. She said that while she was being raped, the accused were talking to each other.

si but she could not hear what i they were saying. t 11 After the police had ar- 1 I rived, she and Neville and ■ i his three flatmates were I “■taken to the police station.jl ijThey returned home about I < ii 3.30 a.m., and all sat around't II talking and drinking for a. 1 while. I< ii About 5.30 a.m.-three oflt lithe accused and another : i liman came back to the flat.!! “IHer first thought was: “Oh!' ’ Jesus, not again,” the girl it jI said. |i 1 “They asked us who had s called the police, and after ai ( ’ while Alex admitted that he: I had,” the girl said. “They;’ i gave him a hiding, and told 11 , him to face the wall.” Then'' > each of the three took turns- • to rape her again. i s She had been wearing a'J i bra, and bodyshirt, and was ] ; putting on her trousers s t when the men came near i her, said the girl. s “One of the men, I’m not I 1 sure which one, ripped my t , trousers off. '

“After the third one raped me, I had to race into the toilet,” she said. On cross-examination by Mr Murfitt, the girl said she had performed an oral act on two of the men after they had asked her to. She said that none of the occupants of the flat called the police a second time, the police had been told about rhe second series of rapes when they visited the flat about 10 o’clock that morning. Brent Wils.on, a police constable, said he was directed to a flat in Cashel Street about 11.10 p.m. on April 13. He was met at the door by one of the occupants, Alex Nelson. “While 1 was on the doorstep, a man came half-way down the stairs, saw me, and ran back up the stairs,” he said. “The man was Joseph Ward.” The constable said that he found the complainant in the bedroom. “Her eyes were puffy, her hair was

jmessed up, and she was j breathing quickly,” he said. '“As she bent over to pick iup her shoes, she held her I stomach and groaned. .“She told me that ‘four ! guys had been through her, land one of the bastards had 'hit her on the head.’ The I left side of her face was red ;and swollen. i “She also asked me if I (would have to tell her mother that she had been ■ raped.” 1 Neville Paul King a sales (assistant, said that when the (four defendants first came (into the bedroom, they said, (that they wanted to see the! ' complainant. ■ “I had never met them be-1 ! fore, and I did not take part ( (in any conversation with (them” he said. “I went into I the lounge, and 1 did not | hear or see anything done ;to anybody else. The de- ; fendants kept ducking in land out of the room.” I He said that the complainjant joined him in the lounge after the men had left. She had not appeared upset, although she did not say anything for about half an hour. “Then we drank coffee, talked for a while, and then ■went to the police station.” j During the second visit of I the men, he again stayed in the lounge until the men ( left. On cross-examination by iWard. he admitted that he ■had said to the four men on their first visit, “F— her. if that’s what you want. It’s nothing to do with me.” Anthony Owen Heney, a detective,' from Invercargill, said that he interviewed Ward in a cell at the police station on May 2. “Ward had admitted that he was also known as ‘Doc’,” he said. “He told me that he visited the complainant’s flat on April 13 with three other men. He had heard that she had gonorrhea and he had just been cured, so he did not want to contract the disease again.” Ward told him that he had i not seen any of his friends: (having sexual intercourse! | with the complainant. When I they had returned the second > time, Ward had had sex| with the complainant he had, talked to her for a while, and she asked him to get into bed with her, he said. Ward had been annoyed 'because he did not have an erection, said witness. The others stayed in the room while he was on the bed with the complainant, and they all left a few minutes! later. ■ Witness said that when he told Ward he would be charged with rape in Christchurch, Ward had replied that it was not rape. He refused to read or sign the statement. The police are calling 14 witnesses, and the case will continue tomorrow.