Jury told N.Z. woman raped

Press, 23 September 1988, Page 7

Jury told N.Z. woman raped

NZPA London An “unsophisticated” young New Zealand woman’s European holiday ended in terror when she was raped by a man who offered to buy her lunch, an Old Bailey jury was told. The woman, aged 20, now living in Brisbane, arrived in England on April 23 last year to stay with family friends in Southampton. Within days she travelled to London to apply for a visa to visit France. While waiting to meet a friend, she accepted an offer of lunch from a man she did not know, the prosecutor, Miss Joanna

Komer, told the court. "The defendant introduced himself to the woman, who was sitting under a bus shelter with her backpack,” she said. “He asked her where she came from and then invited her to go to lunch.” Miss Korner said the woman, a trained nurse, realised she "acted extremely stupidly in agreeing to have lunch with a man she did not know.” “But she was a 20 yearold girl from what used to be the colonies and perhaps not as sophisticated as those of us born in London. “She agreed to go with

the man after he showed her his office and said he would take her back to his flat.” The man, aged 33, a trained horticulturist, took her to a Fulham flat after picking up, two takeaway meals, but once inside started talking about sex. “When she told him to stop, he went to the kitchen and come back with what appeared to be a bottle of vegetable oil,” Miss Korner said. “He started rubbing it through her hair — for what reason only he knows — and she was terrified.” The man then forced

the woman into the bedroom where he raped her. He later hailed a taxi for her and the taxi-driver called the police. x The man, who has a wife and three children — the youngest just 10 > days old at the time of the alleged attack — has pleaded not guilty to rape. The court was told that he allegedly told police he. took the woman to his flat because “she was interested in renting a place to live.” He kissed her, but denied sexual intercourse took place. The trial continues.