Verdicts returned in NZ Navy lieutenant rape trial

WARNING: This story contains allegations of sexual offending

A panel of military members has found a NZ Navy officer not guilty of three counts of rape.

The Royal New Zealand Navy lieutenant was on trial at a Court Martial this week having been accused of raping a woman while they were overseas.

The woman appeared via audio visual link from another country on Monday and said the lieutenant thrice ignored her refusal to have sex without a condom.

The lieutenant’s lawyer Asta Gold told the court that her client respected the woman’s wishes not to have sex that night.

Gold said the pair fell into a consensual relationship after that, and it was only after they broke up a month later, and she saw him with another woman, that the allegations arose.

The woman told the court that she saw the lieutenant at an event, which was the first time she told a friend what happened to her.

She said she also told the woman the lieutenant was with what happened and when she saw them together again that night, confronted both of them.

In his summing up to the panel this morning, Judge Michael Crosbie said the defence’s case was that the woman was lying.

To ‘smear’ his name

He said throughout the trial, Gold had alleged the woman’s claim was a lie, stemming from an attempt to “smear” the reputation of the lieutenant out of “jealousy and anger”.

The defence said it was a lie the woman “did not back down on”, Judge Crosbie said.

He said the Crown’s case was that the woman was a credible witness “despite some oddities” in her account. Those included that she had stayed in the room afterwards and started a consensual relationship with the lieutenant in the following days.

Admitting those “oddities” had a “ring of truth”, the judge reported Crown prosecutor Sam McMullan saying, and this was understandable as part of the “human condition”.

McMullan advised the panel to look to the woman’s explanations, including that she told someone what happened some months after the fact, out of concern it might happen again to someone else.

The Crown claimed the “intelligent, articulate” woman had also not painted the lieutenant as a bad guy, and had not made up the story out of jealousy, Judge Crosbie said.

Crown prosecutor Sam McMullan at a Court Martial in February. Photo / Michael Craig

At the start of the week, Gold questioned why the woman didn’t leave the hotel room after the first instance of alleged violation.

The woman replied she was mostly in shock and then worried about having to explain to her roommate why she had come back early.

Many in their group, including the roommate, knew she had gone back to the lieutenant’s room, she said.

“So, you’re saying that you ... carried on a sexual act because you were worried about going back to your room early?” Gold asked.

“I was anticipating that [he] would understand ... and not violate me again,” the woman answered.

Gold also reported the woman’s roommate had described her as being in “high spirits” when she came back into the room.

The woman said she remembered her roommate asking her how it went, and her replying “good”, but she was not in “high spirits”, she was hungover and not feeling great.

She said she knew she was just raped and hadn’t told her roommate and felt she had to carry on that narrative.

Her roommate was very “girl talk”, “let’s chat”, “let’s gossip about boys”, and she made a decision to play into that.

“I was trying to compartmentalise what happened and ... pretend like it didn’t happen.”

She admitted seeking out the lieutenant after that night, because he was fun, but disagreed with the Gold saying she was “obsessive” with him the next day.

She went on to have consensual sex with him the next night, she said, with a condom, because she felt like she had gotten through to him after the third alleged violation.

“I knew if it happened again, I would have done something about it, as crazy as it sounds.”

She also knew she wanted to keep seeing him after the trip, but if she wanted to walk away, she could, she said.

Where to get help:
If it's an emergency and you feel that you or someone else is at risk, call 111.
If you've ever experienced sexual assault or abuse and need to talk to someone, contact Safe to Talk confidentially, any time 24/7:
• Call 0800 044 334.
• Text 4334.
• Email support@safetotalk.nz.
• For more info or to web-chat, visit safetotalk.nz.
• Survivor Experiences Service: 0800 456 090 (8.30am-4.30pm Monday-Friday) or text 8328. This service is for people abused in state, faith-based or other forms of care.
Alternatively contact your local police station – click here for a list.
If you have been sexually assaulted, remember it's not your fault.

Ella Scott-Fleming has been a journalist for three years and previously worked at the Otago Daily Times, Gore Ensign and Metro Magazine. She has an interest in court and general reporting. She’s currently based in Auckland covering justice related stories.