Defence questions motives
A Nelson woman says she was so frightened she continued to ‘‘try to be nice’’ to a man after he had raped her twice.
Tharka Thaksala Ranasinghe, 40, faces 12 charges including five of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, two of sexual violation by rape, four of indecent assault, and one of male assaults female.
He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Crown prosecutor Jackson Webber said there had been a ‘‘very brief’’ consensual sexual relationship between the pair, who lived in the same house, but the complainant had ‘‘put a fairly rapid end’’ to it.
‘‘The Crown case is that the defendant did not and would not accept her decision,’’ Webber said.
It’s alleged Ranasinghe raped the woman on two occasions during June and July last year, having moved into the same address in November 2015 after his arrival in Nelson from Sri Lanka.
The complainant said she awoke to find him in her bedroom uninvited, where he pinned her down, raped her and left her shaking on the bed. It’s also alleged he sexually assaulted her on other occasions, touching her inappropriately.
However, the defence case is the complainant made up allegations because she wanted the defendant out of her house so her partner could move in.
Defence lawyer Tony Bamford said Ranasinghe had been the one to end the brief consensual fling at the start and there had been no further sexual contact since then.
In cross examination of the complainant yesterday, Bamford referred to text messages between the complainant and friends where she had asked for money. He said that showed she was struggling to ‘‘make ends meet’’ and had been desperate to find a solution when she discovered he had plans to move out.
He also read messages where the complainant repeatedly asked her partner to move in, or to buy her a house.
The complainant did not accept that she had significant financial or accommodation difficulties, but did say on occasions she had enquired about finding more work.
Bamford said because the complainant’s partner was reluctant to move in while Ranasinghe was there, by making sexual allegations and getting him out, she had ‘‘solved the problem’’.
The complainant accepted the defendant had been a barrier to her partner moving in, but said she had not made up the allegations.
The defence also played a voicemail message left by the complainant on the defendant’s cellphone, after the alleged rapes took place. In it, she said she was ‘‘missing him’’ while he was on holiday, and asked when he could return and cook for her.
Under questioning by the prosecution, the complainant said she didn’t know why she said those things, but had missed having company at the house even though he frightened her. She wanted to be nice to him, in the hope he would stop sexually assaulting her.
Just days later, after his return, the complainant called the police after he allegedly tried to force himself on her again, and he was arrested.
No DNA from the defendant was found on the complainant but Dr Debbie Harrison said this was not unexpected given the four-day gap between the alleged rape and examination.