Accused’s partner denies STI

The partner of a man who allegedly gave two children chlamydia when raping them says there was no way she was the source of the infection.

Miriama Matthews gave evidence in the Palmerston North District Court on Wednesday afternoon in the trial of her partner, Robert Tautari.

Tautari, 24, is on trial, accused of raping and violating two girls and assaulting a boy in 2013 and 2014.

He has already pleaded guilty to assaulting one of the girls and a different child.

All the children were known to him at the time of the alleged offences.

A sticking point in the trial has been how the two girls got chlamydia – a sexually transmitted infection (STI) that they both tested positive for after saying Tautari had raped them.

The Crown alleges Tautari was the source.

He had said in his police interview that Matthews may have had an STI, and talked about her possibly getting treatment for it.

But Matthews said she had never had an STI.

A medical report from her midwife, read to the court on Wednesday, showed she returned a clear test in mid-2014.

She had had multiple children by that stage, all of which were delivered by caesarean section, so had decided to have the test.

‘‘I’m a high risk patent when carrying a baby.

‘‘I was just paranoid about my health and wellbeing, and the baby.’’

She told Tautari she had the test, but did not discuss results until after the child was born.

She had never experienced anything that made her think she had an STI.

She said she did not have sex with anyone apart from Tautari from the time they got together in 2011.

‘‘We did have sex during pregnancy, yeah, every day...whenever I felt like it.’’

The Crown and defence will give their closing addresses on Thursday morning before Judge Stephanie Edwards sums up the case and sends the jury to consider their verdicts.