Alleged rapes described in written submission

Press, 21 February 1987, Page 34

Alleged rapes described in written submission

PA Auckland A Mangere woman, aged 19, told detectives she was held down in the back of a van by several members of the Mongrel Mob gang .while others raped her. Her written statement was admitted as evidence at a depositions hearing in the District Court at Otahuhu yesterday into the alleged gang rape during the Mongrel Mob convention at Ambury Park, Mangere, in December. Three Mongrel Mob members who face charges stemming from the alleged rape were yesterday committed to the High Court at Auckland for trial. Counsel for the three . had earlier submitted that there was insufficient evidence to send them for trial. Ten other gang members were on Wednesday committed for trial after

a preliminary hearing at which their counsel agreed there was a case to answer. .

All 13 are charged Jointly with sexual violation by rape and unlawful sexual connection with a Mangere woman on December 14 during a Mongrel Mob convention at Ambury Park. Wiari Kehu Wehi, aged 35, a beneficiary, of Putaruru; Keith Kelvin Kohai Renata, aged 29, a shearer, of Waipukurau, and Charles Tarewa Keefe; aged 31, a labourer, of Napier, were granted bail with sizeable sureties. The written evidence admitted by the Crown at the depositions hearing on Wednesday was made available to the news media yesterday.

It included the woman’s statement in which she described the night of the alleged rapes.

About 9 p.m. on December 13 the woman was walking with her dog towards' a friend’s home in Ambury Road. A car containing five men stopped. One man grabbed her and two otheis pulled her into the back seat.

The car stopped just inside the gate of the Ambury Park convention centre and the woman was pushed on to the grass. She said one of the men grabbed her and dragged her away from the gate, pushed her to the ground, removed her cardigan and took her handbag.

She described how she got up and tried to escape but ran straight into more gang members. “I was screaming and yelling for them to let me go, but nobody took any notice.” She was then thrown on to the ground, had her clothes ripped from her,

and was slapped and hit by various men. “I remember lying on the grass and one of them raped me,” she said. "After I was raped I just lay there stunned.”

She was raped repeatedly and subjected to beatings and indecencies before being placed on a stage. Later, a gang member said to her: “Wairoa gang members; they are bad rapists, come with me, I will take you home.” He held her hand, led her over to a white van, where she was held by several men who pinned her arms and wrists down to the floor of the van and raped her repeatedly. After several attempts to escape, the woman succeeded In getting away just before dawn, running naked through a paddock with mob members yelling and whistling after her.