Rape trial nears end

Two girls who say they are the victim of a child-rapist are accused of making up the allegations to conceal how they caught chlamydia.

Defence lawyer Tony Thackery put the proposition to Robert Tautari’s jury in the Palmerston North District Court on Thursday, during his closing remarks about the case.

Tautari, 24, has been on trial for nearly two weeks, charged with violating and raping two girls and assaulting a boy in the wider Manawatu region in 2013 and 2014.

He has already pleaded guilty to assaulting one of the girls and a different boy. All the children were known to him.

Thackery said the fact the two girls both tested positive for chlamydia after making their complaints did not mean they were both sexually active with Tautari, or even with the same man.

The older of the two could have been having consensual sex and made up the rape story to cover for those people, he said.

The possibility of both girls being abused by a different man was also raised.

Thackery said witnesses during the trial described Tautari as hardworking, caring and trustworthy around children.

‘‘What sort of person is a rapist? A rapist puts his needs above others. He doesn’t care at all [about] what the victim feels.

‘‘Is the victim a child? The rapist doesn’t care.

‘‘The evidence strongly suggests that this man does not fit the profile of a rapist. If anything, he is a truckist – he is obsessed with trucks and draws pictures of them for his kids.’’

Those with Tautari and the boy at the time of the alleged assault gave the same version of events as Tautari, showing the boy was wrong, Thackery said.

But Crown prosecutor Erin Fitzherbert said the evidence showed the allegations were true.

The assaults Tautari had pleaded guilty to showed he had a propensity to lash out at children when frustrated.

The same thing happened with the boy, she said.

The girls’ stories supported each other.

They shared common traits, such as them both being alone with Tautari, him using similar methods when committing the rapes, and alcohol sometimes being a feature.

Tautari’s story about the rapes had changed – he allegedly told two social workers he had committed them, then told police he did not – while the girls hadn’t wavered, Fitzherbert said.

‘‘That is because they are remembering the truth and the truth stays the same.’’

Judge Stephanie Edwards summed up the case for the jury, which will on Friday continue to consider the verdict.