■■7 ""** T/" Girl witness in rape hearing sobs while cross-examined

Press, 16 July 1986, Page 20

■■ 7 ""** T/" Girl witness in rape hearing sobs while cross-examined

A girl, aged 14, agreed under cross-examination in the High Court that when she went into Catherdral Square on the evening of January 31 she had been told that it was the annual Mongrel Mob “blocking” season. She agreed with Mr S. C. Barker, defence counsel, that she had still got into a station waggon with a number of Mongrel Mob members, but she said that she did not think that they were all members of the gang.

The trial of four members of the Mongrel Mob on charges of rape, attempted rape, and sodomy is before Mr Justice Williamson and an all-male jury. While under a lengthy cross-examination, the girl sobbed at times, and sat in the witness box with her head lowered. Under the new Act members of the public were excluded from the courtroom while the girl was giving evidence. Her

mother and her social worker were seated near the witness box.

Terry Paul Taituha, aged 23, unemployed, faces alternative charges of raping the girl and sexually violating her by raping her, and one charge of sodomy.

Cedric Matthew Paul Hapakuku, aged 22, a labourer, denied the same alternative charges, and one of attempted rape. Tikltu Te Poona, aged 24, a labourer, denies a charge of attempted rape.

Joseph Hohepa Chase, aged 18, unemployed, denies alternative charges of attempted rape and attempting to sexually violate the girl by attempting to rape her.

Mr B. M. Stanaway appears for the Crown; Messrs M. J. Knowles, and J. W. Appleby for Hapakuku; Mr A. M. Mclntosh for Te Poona; Mr S. C. Barker for Chase; and Mr E. Bedo for Taituha. Dennis Desmond

Skipper, a social worker at the Kingsley Girls’ Home said that the complainant in the case telephoned the home about 9.50 p.m. on January 31. The call was logged. The girl was in a distressed state, and asked for help. She said that the Mob had taken her, and he understood that to mean the Mongrel Mob. He had some difficulty in getting out of her where she was ringing from.

She was agitated and upset and he could voices in the background. He asked her about four times where she was and she gave him the impression that she was ringing from the Sydenham Post Office. When she hung up he telephoned the police. To Mr Bedo, Mr Skipper said that the conversation lasted about six minutes. He had no reason to believe that the girl had any association with the Mongrel Mob at

that time.

Barbara Dawn Watson, a housewife of Bryndwr, said that she was awakened about 4 a.m. on February by an urgent knocking at the front door.

As she went to open it, she saw the outline of a girl who called out several times: “Please help me. I’ve been assaulted by the Mongrel Gang.”

When she saw that the girl was on her own, she let her in. The girl was in a dazed state. She was dishevelled and grubby and it was obvious and she needed help. Her hair was standing on end and it appeared some had been pulled. There was bruising on her face, arms and neck. Her eyes were swollen and were closing. She asked to telephone the police and asked the number. Mrs Watson said she told her 111, but the girl said that it was not important, and was given the number of the control room.

While speaking to the police the girl became agitated.

Mrs Watson said that she sat her down in the kitchen and gave her a cup of tea. As she was drinking it the girl said: “Look what they’ve done to me” and pulled her up sweat shirt up. She saw that the zip on her jeans was broken and that she

was not wearing any underclothes. *

During the 20 minutes the girl was at her home she kept repeating: “Look what they’ve done to me.” To Mr Bedo, Mrs Watson said that the girt had told her that she had been to see one of the Rocky movies, and was waiting at a bus stop in the Square to go home when she was forced into a station waggon by members of the gang. Dr Philippa Constance Flavell, a psychiatric registrar with the North Canterbury Hospital Board, said that she also acted as a police doctor. She examined the girl at 5.30 a.m. on February 1. At the time the girl was wrapped in a blanket and was cold and shivering. Her hair was dishevelled and her clothes were very dirty. There was a considerable amount of bruising all over her body. Her face was bruised, and there were cuts on her lips and chin. There were love bites on both sides of her neck. There was a cut in her mouth and her lips were bruised. Bruising on the inner aspects of both arms indicated that the girl had been forcibly held.

There was bruising over both legs, and especially on the inside of the thighs, which appeared to have been caused when

her legs were pulled

apart Near the groin the skin had been broken. Both breasts were bruised, the marts being about the size of a 20c cdn. There were bruises on her back and buttocks, which could have been caused when she was pushed down on to the ground or floor. Around the vagina was gro® bruising, and the skin was inflamed. Because of her condition intercourse would have been extremely painful.

She believed that the injuries were caused by forced intercourse and were consistent with the girl having been held against her will. The girl told her that she had been subjected to anal intercourse as well, and swabs were taken, Dr Flavell said. Because she considered that there was a high chance of the girl getting venereal disease following the incident, a large dose of antibotics was prescribed. As a result the girl developed a secondary infection known as "thrush.”

To Mr Bedo, Dr Flavell said that the thrush was caused by the antibiotics. She said that what she had described in this case was consistent with rape. There was no other explanation for the bruising that she was aware of.