Woman describes nightmare at the quarry

She was covered in blood. Her attacker was nearby. She thought she would die.

When the flashing police lights finally broke the darkness, she ran towards them.

That is what a 24-year-old woman told police in an emotional interview days after she had been allegedly abducted from an inner city street in Auckland.

The woman is at the centre of a trial against Colin Jack Mitchell – a 60-year-old truck driver from Onehunga – who is accused of abducting the young woman with the intent to sexually assault her.

The victim, who has name suppression, had been in Ponsonby Rd drinking with friends at the Auckland Pride Parade on February 25 last year. Over the evening she became intoxicated.

In the early hours of February 26, the woman became separated from her friends and began walking alone down Great North Rd in Grey Lynn.

It was at this point, the Crown alleges, Mitchell – who was driving around the city – either coaxed or forced the woman into his car.

In an interview shown to the jury at the High Court in Auckland on Wednesday, the woman told police she could not recall much from that evening.

One minute she had been in Karangahape Rd, the next thing she was in what seemed like a quarry with a masked man standing over her.

‘‘I woke up in a gravel area and I can remember feeling this side of the head and it was just covered in blood. I think I had my undies on but I am not sure. I definitely did not have my dress on,’’ she said.

‘‘There was a man with a mask and so I think it was some kind of softball or baseball bat and I was crunched up on the ground and I thought he had an accent, but because of the mask it might have been muffled. I think I was saying to him: You don’t have to do this. You don’t have to be this person. He just kept saying: You stupid bitch.

‘‘I don’t know if he said you are going to get yourself killed, or I’m going to kill you but he was threatening me with the bat and he kept asking me to turn around and I just kept saying: No, I’m not, I’m not, I’m not, so he hit me again.’’

What happened next remains a mystery. Somehow the woman managed to get away from the man. The victim remembers running through a dark and dusty yard. She had no idea where the attacker was, and she somehow managed to call police.

‘‘I woke up and I was already on the move. I just have no idea how I got away.’’

The phone she was carrying did not have any data on it, meaning police were unable to locate her using GPS. Eventually police found the woman on a road near the quarry.

Mitchell has denied charges of abduction, wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and assault with intent to commit sexual violation.

The Crown will introduce evidence which shows Mitchell’s DNA was found on gloves at the scene.