Rape accused: admission a joke
A man who allegedly infected two girls with chlamydia when raping them is giving evidence in his defence and is expected to again deny any wrongdoing.
Robert Tautari, 24, gave a mihi to the Palmerston North District Court jury on Monday afternoon before entering the witness box.
The court had earlier heard that a previous admission to the rapes was a joke.
He has been on trial for a week, accused of violating and raping two girls and assaulting a boy in 2013 and 2014 at locations in the wider Manawatu region.
He has already pleaded guilty to assaulting the older of the girls and another child.
All the children were known to Tautari, but their exact relationship is suppressed.
Defence lawyer Tony Thackery said Tautari was not a strong public speaker, so any uncertainty should not be viewed as guilt.
Tautari’s hour of evidence on Monday afternoon largely focused on his work history, the alleged assault of the boy and the admitted assault of the child not involved in the trial..
He denied the Crown allegation he hit the boy in the head in a car, saying the boy simply got in his car before they both went to a property.
However, he admitted hitting the boy with a knife because the boy had cut a girl’s leg while playing with the blade.
Tautari isn’t facing a charge over that incident.
He said he hit the child not involved in this trial with a spatula because he had been told the child performed an indecent act on another youngster.
‘‘I was destroyed. I was quite upset and the spatula was the first thing in front of me.’’
He said he felt bad after striking out.
The court spent Monday morning watching part of a video interview Tautari gave Detective Konrad Tamati charged.
The interview was dominated by two subjects: his two alleged victims having chlamydia and a conversation he had with a social worker.
Tautari said he had no idea if he’d ever caught a sexually transmitted infection (STI), as he had never been tested.
He thought his partner may have had one at some stage, but could not say what it was.
His partner was his only sexual companion at that time. He was sure she was not sleeping with anyone else and they often had unprotected sex, he said.
Tautari swore repeatedly when Tamati suggested he gave the girls chlamydia by having sex with them. ‘‘I would never do that.’’ Tautari also denied telling a social worker he was going to admit raping the girls.
‘‘She said, ‘you would probably plead guilty’. She said if I plead not guilty I probably wouldn’t get to see my kids.
‘‘I then said ‘oh, I’ll just plead guilty then’. I was joking.’’
That social worker told the court earlier in the trial Tautari had said, ‘‘nah, nah, I raped them’’.
In court, Tamati said he did not ask Tautari about that because it was not in the social worker’s police statement.
The trial continues, with the defence calling four other witnesses before the lawyers close their cases. before being