Man said to have raped two women he met on Tinder

A DUNEDIN man allegedly raped two women he met through Tinder within a matter of weeks, a jury has heard.

Michael John Danyon Fraser (24) is on trial before the Dunedin District Court after pleading not guilty to three counts of rape, one of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection and two of attempting to do so.

Crown prosecutor Richard Smith said the first complainant went to police within hours of the incident on January 21, 2018 and Fraser was spoken to the following month.

Despite that, he allegedly raped a second woman on February 25, 2018.

Mr Smith said both women would give evidence of forced sex acts, slapping and choking, all against their will.

Counsel John Munro, though, told jurors at the outset the sex between his client and the women was consensual and other various acts were either accidental or did not happen.

The first complainant said she met Fraser at a party in 2017 and they later matched on the dating app Tinder.

The pair had had sex on several previous occasions without incident, she said.

Fraser had never been aggressive with her or communicated an interest in ‘‘rough sex’’, the court heard.

The complainant accepted she was contemplating sex after accompanying him home following a chance latenight encounter in the Octagon.

But she said that soon changed.

The woman — who gave evidence by video link from overseas — described how Fraser forced her to perform a sex act, despite her saying ‘‘no’’ at least twice.

It is alleged the defendant then began to rape her.

When the complainant asked if she could leave, Fraser allegedly slapped her twice.

As it continued, the woman said, the defendant held a pillow to her face.

She said it felt as though she was leaving her body.

‘‘I just froze . . . I just lay there,’’ she told the court.

‘‘He asked me if I liked it rough or something. I said ‘no’, I wanted to leave, and he choked me.’’

Fraser allegedly grabbed the woman by the throat, leaving her struggling to breathe.

The witness said the incident finished abruptly and the man ‘‘started getting all frantic’’ and apologised.

Mr Munro asked whether there had been kissing and mutual sex acts taking place during that night, which the complainant had later disclosed to a doctor who examined her.

The woman said she did not recall that occurring but could not rule it out.

Similarly, she did not remember a text Fraser sent her in the early hours asking why she left ‘‘so keenly’’.

‘‘Do you not remember it because it doesn't help your case?’’ Mr Munro said. ‘‘You’re exaggerating everything that happened that night.’’

The complainant denied that was the case.

Mr Munro said the woman had simply become upset because Fraser had wanted to go back into town after seeing her, which resulted in the allegations going ‘‘too far’’.

She also rejected that assertion.

The woman later met her friend and told him what had happened.

‘‘Noone will believe me, it's all my fault,’’ she told him.

Mr Smith asked the complainant why she had said that.

‘‘I know how these things go. Noone ever believes the victim,’’ she told the jury.

The second complainant will give evidence today.

The trial, before Judge Michael Crosbie and a jury of seven women and five men, is expected to last the week.