Man turns around rape claim

Tekira spoke to police after the incident and the recorded interview was played to the jury yesterday.

He told police he woke to find the woman sexually violating him. She was rough and mean and had nothing nice to say to him, he said. ‘‘I was just shocked, stunned and most of all hurt.’’

The woman had told the jury that Tekira had jumped on her when she was in bed, strangled her, told her this was the day she was going to die and violated and raped her. She said he kept asking her why was she a b .... in his house.

The jury was told that in November 2001, Tekira was convicted of charges of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection and rape.

When he had nowhere else to go, he stayed with a woman he had previously had a relationship with, though the relationship did not resume. In December 2000, he went to her bedroom and asked why she was being such a b .... then he pushed a pillow over her face and pushed her face into the mattress and sexually assaulted her.

When asked about the incident, he said it was all consensual and at the woman’s instigation.

In her final address in the current case, prosecutor Kate Feltham said the 2000 incident was important because of similarities that showed a pattern of behaviour, including asking both women why they were being a b .... , and later saying they had instigated sex with him.

She said that the jury would struggle to find an account from anyone that was more believable or compelling than the evidence of the most recent woman who had accused Tekira.

Tekira’s lawyer, Val Nisbet, said people changed and the jury might think Tekira sounded sincere when he told police that he spent more than eight years making himself ‘‘right’’.

The jury is expected to begin considering its decision today.