Raped, left on roadside

A Te Awamutu man who raped a woman on the side of a road has been jailed for eight-and-a-half years.

Whitiora Lyall Matatahi, 27, appeared for sentencing in the Hamilton District Court on Tuesday on charges of rape and unlawful sexual connection, laid in response to an incident that happened in the early hours of March 15 last year in Te Awamutu.

The court was told Matatahi turned up at a party the victim was attending. Later, he and the victim departed, supposedly to buy cigarettes. Instead, Matatahi took the victim to his house, where made sexual advances toward her.

She told him to stop. Matatahi desisted and agreed to take her home. However on that journey he suddenly turned off the main road and onto a side street, stopping outside an auto repair shop where he tried to kiss her. She tried to get out but fell on the gravel, where Matatahi set upon her. She struggled but Matatahi told her he had a knife in his car, which he would use against her.

He sexually assaulted her and then raped her, before driving off, leaving her in the driveway.

The victim suffered grazes and a sore back following the attack.

However, the psychological impact had been severe and, in the words of Judge Patrick Treston, she had been beset by memories of that night.

Matatahi was found guilty following a jury trial in Hamilton earlier this year.

‘‘The court does not countenance this sort of gratuitous sexual violation of a woman,’’ the judge said, before jailing Matatahi for eight-and-a-half years.

Judge Treston also ordered the confiscation of the Mercedes car Matatahi had been driving.