‘Grudge led to brutal attacks on woman’

A young woman was subjected to what the Crown has called an ‘‘inexplicably brutal’’ attack because she was rumoured to have slept with another woman’s boyfriend, a court has heard.

Five people are on trial in the High Court at Auckland facing charges varying from threatening to kill, to kidnapping, sexual assault and attempted murder.

The complainant was allegedly subjected to two attacks where she was stripped, tied up, her hair hacked off, was repeatedly tasered, sexually violated, assaulted with various weapons, and had her finger stomped on until it broke.

The Crown says three of the group then beat the woman with a hammer until she nearly died.

The accused are Michelle Blom, Nicola Jones, Cameron Hakeke, Wayne Blackett and Julie-Ann Torrance.

Their alleged victim was a 19-year-old sex worker, found on a remote dirt road between Warkworth and Wellsford last May.

She was unconscious, clothed in an old pair of overalls and her hair had been ‘‘crudely’’ cut off, leading the pair who discovered her to think she was a man, Crown prosecutor Henry Steele said in his opening address yesterday.

‘‘It was immediately clear . . . that she had suffered terribly.’’

Steele said the genesis for the attack was Jones’ grudge with the complainant, whom she suspected of sleeping with her ex-boyfriend.

Text messages would be produced that showed Jones texted the complainant’s mother, telling her she was going to kill her daughter.

‘‘I’m going to kill her . . . if I see her, I’m going to kill her,’’ Jones allegedly said.

‘‘The texts between [the complainant and Jones’ ex] are unreal, so your daughter is history.’’

Months later, in April 2016, Jones, Hakeke and Torrance planned ‘‘revenge’’.

Steele said Torrance and Jones ‘‘ambushed’’ the woman at a West Auckland address.

They tasered her repeatedly, cut off her hair, and forced her to sign over her car.

The women then dropped the complainant on the side of the road in the Bombays and warned her not to return to Auckland, Steele said.

Two weeks later the complainant again encountered Jones and Torrance in Auckland.

This time the two defendants were with friends Michelle Blom and another woman, Jaclyn Keates, the court was told.

The complainant was dragged into a car and taken to an address where she was stripped, tied up, and assaulted with a cricket wicket, her fingers were broken, and her hair was cut again.

After almost a day had passed, Blackett arrived and he, Torrance, and Jones drove the complainant to the Dome Valley.

There the trio tried to strangle the woman, still tied up, before trying to break her neck.

When that failed, Steele said, the three used a hammer on her.

Before the trial began Blackett pleaded guilty to kidnapping and attempted murder.

The complainant will give evidence via video link. Also due to give evidence is Keates, who has admitted and been sentenced for her role in the alleged attack.