Jury retires for the night in Christian Grey ‘rescue’ rape trial
A jury has retired for the evening in the trial of a man accused of raping a woman he picked up from the roadside after she crashed the car she was driving.
Christian Edward Grey, 36, stood trial this week in the Hamilton District Court on three charges – sexual violation by rape, abduction for the purposes of sexual connection and male assaults female – all arising from an incident in Hamilton on the night of Tuesday, November 8, last year.
The Crown case alleged Grey, who is profoundly deaf, picked up a woman from Tramway Road after she crashed her car and following an argument with her partner.
But instead of taking her home as she had asked, the Crown said he took the woman back to a sleepout at a house in Fairview Downs, where he raped her.
Following the summing-up by Judge Merelina Burnett, the jury of six men and six women retired at 2.26pm yesterday.
They were to consider their verdicts and retie for the night shortly before 5pm.
They will reconvene at 9.30am today. Earlier, defence counsel Jared Bell said the defendant had been falsely accused.
‘‘There are serious question marks you should have around [the alleged victim’s] reliability and her credibility.
‘‘She talked about being heavily intoxicated, her driving was of such a standard that it caused serious tensions between herself and her partner.’’
The woman had also been in an emotional state after arguing with her partner, who had opted not to hop into Grey’s car after he arrived on the crash scene.
A rear wheel was badly buckled after the woman had crashed into a traffic island.
‘‘You need to give the defendant some credit or some allowance that he is deaf, or he can’t hear in the normal way,’’ Bell said.
There was a very strong possibility that Grey’s utterances of ‘‘home, home’’ as he was driving the woman to the house where he allegedly raped her could have been misinterpreted or miscommunicated, he said.
Crown prosecutor Rebecca Guthrie urged the jury to apply common sense.
‘‘She thought he was a good Samaritan, someone to help her and take her home.
‘‘Instead, he was someone who, in a cruel and callous way, detained her and assaulted her and raped her.
‘‘She was vulnerable and her vulnerabilities must have been apparent to the defendant.’’
Guthrie said some might suggest that when she returned home, it was easier to say she had been raped rather than admit to her partner she had been unfaithful; however, this was an unrealistic view to take.
‘‘How on earth was that ever the easier thing to say?
‘‘There is no evidence at all that [the complainant] had anything to gain by putting herself through this intrusive, invasive process.’’