Riverhead attacker’s West Auckland victim
The man found guilty of attacking a woman at the Riverhead quarry also faced charges of raping a woman in West Auckland.
Colin Jack Mitchell was found guilty of all the charges he faced - including those relating to the 1992 rape - on Thursday.
When police began DNA testing the evidence found at the Riverhead quarry last year, two black gloves produced a match with DNA collected from the unsolved 1992 rape.
At trial, Mitchell fought the allegations relating to the 1992 rape and the more recent Riverhead attack. During the trial, the 1992 victim came face to face with Mitchell
On the night of her rape she had been drinking at a Ponsonby bar.
After the gig, she began to walk home along Great North Road when a man offered her a ride.
Shivering and wanting to get home to Kelston the woman accepted the ride. The man behind the wheel was Mitchell.
The woman recalled Mitchell told her he was going to Avondale. The woman said they chatted a bit before he dropped her off near Rosebank Rd.
The man turned around at the end of the road and drove back past her and later confronted her on the street.
Mitchell walked the woman behind a factory where he made her take items of clothing off, and assaulted and raped her.
‘‘I was terrified. I was wondering if I was going to get home or not, whether it was the day I was going to die.’’
She was tied up and told to stay there and he left. The woman managed to untie herself, find a pay phone and called police.
‘‘I was grateful to be alive but I was really scared.’’
Last year, police visited the woman again with news she never thought she’d have - her attacker had been found.
At trial, when questioned about the rape, Mitchell told the jury he had consensual sex with the woman. That they had discussed having sex after he offered to give her a ride and that the act took place in the back of his car.
However, on Thursday, Mitchell was found guilty of the abduction, assault and intended sexual assault of a young woman at the Riverhead quarry last year.
He was also found guilty of the rape and abduction of the woman in 1992. Mitchell will be sentenced for the Riverhead attack and the 1992 rape in May.