Defendant claims victim wanted sex

A man standing trial for double rape claims his alleged victim wanted to have sex with him despite having given her the bash only moments before.

Michael Toihau Parnell has been accused of threatening a woman with a knife and then raping her twice after an overnight stay in a Taranaki motor camp. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. The offending is alleged to have taken place on December 18, 2016.

The trial by a jury of eight women and four men began on Monday in the New Plymouth District Court before presiding Judge Stephen Harrop.

Yesterday, Parnell elected to give evidence and was the only witness called by the defence.

After taking the stand, his lawyer Patrick Mooney asked Parnell to recount his version of the incident, which played out when the pair visited the region for a birthday party. The court heard they had shared accommodation in a cabin at a New Plymouth holiday park where the physical and sexual assaults allegedly happened the next morning.

Parnell admitted he became enraged as the two argued and while giving evidence confessed to raining down a bevy of punches on the woman’s body and face, leaving significant bruising.

But Parnell was adamant there was no sexual assault.

Mooney argued the sex between the pair had either been consensual or his client had reasonable belief that it had been.

Parnell said following the physical assault he fetched the complainant a bag of frozen peas for her wounded eye. He claimed soon after she wanted to be intimate with him and proved so by taking off her own clothes and ‘‘hopping on top’’ of him.

It is alleged Parnell raped the woman a second time that same morning but the defendant, again, claimed it was mutual sex.

While under crossexamination, Crown prosecutor Justin Marinovich suggested this was not the case. He suggested Parnell threatened he would bash the woman’s teeth out if she did not do what he wanted.

On Monday, the complainant gave evidence during which she denied initiating sex with Parnell.

She said she felt she had ‘‘no other choice’’ but to comply with what the accused wanted. While under cross-examination by Mooney, the woman said Parnell had not forced her to have sex with him.

In regards to the alleged physical assault, she spoke of feeling ‘‘powerless’’ and ‘‘vulnerable’’.

She said Parnell had brandished a knife at her in a threatening manner. When questioned about the complainant’s evidence regarding the knife, Parnell said she was lying.

But he admitted to pulling the blunt side of a knife across his own throat as a threat to kill himself.

Twelve further witnesses were called to give evidence yesterday, including a number of police officers and experts in the field of forensics.

Closing submissions will be heard today.