Man faces 27 charges alleging sexual and physical abuse of young woman

A young woman’s former foster father became so concerned that she was being abused by a man she was staying with that he called police.

A court has been told that the man, 54, physically and sexually abused the woman while his wife was away from home.

The woman sent her former foster father photos via Facebook Messenger which showed her injuries, and a video recording threats he was making against her, the court was told.

The foster father implored the woman to go to police but she declined to do so.

He then contacted police himself.

Officers went round for a “welfare check” at the Hawke’s Bay property where the woman was staying, and arrested the man.

He is now before the Napier District Court, facing 27 charges, including one of raping her, six counts of unlawful sexual connection and numerous charges of assault.

He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The trial began on Monday, when the jury of six men and six women were told that the accused man had a historic conviction for manslaughter.

Judge Russell Collins said this did not make it more likely that he committed any of the offences with which he is now charged.

However, the judge said it might be relevant to the woman’s state of mind at the time.

He also warned the jury that it was not uncommon for people to delay complaining about sexual abuse, and it would be “false reasoning” to believe that the woman would have complained straight away.

The young woman has statutory name suppression.

Crown prosecutor Megan Mitchell said the man abused her while his wife was away, punching her for perceived disrespect, or even silence.

Violence accompanied by sexual abuse

She said the violence was often accompanied by verbal abuse, and by locking her outside the house.

He allegedly threw a heavy doorstop at her on one occasion.

The man then asked the woman to suck his penis. She complied, believing that she had no choice, Mitchell said.

From then on she was allegedly forced to perform oral sex more often. When she refused, she said she was given a “fat hiding”.

In early 2024, the court heard the man became angry and tried to have sex with her.

However, defence counsel Philip Ross said the woman had stayed at the house for a period of time and sometimes it became a “fraught situation”.

He said the man suffered ill health, and he woke up while heavily medicated to find her performing oral sex on him.

Ross said the man and the young woman sometimes argued and he was “defending himself from her”.

The former foster father gave evidence that the young woman came to live with him and his partner for two or three years from the age of 16.

At the time, she was “house-hopping and getting passed around”.

After she moved to Hawke’s Bay, they communicated mainly through Messenger, frequently at first.

However, he said that over time, the contact became more infrequent and the messages slowly became more concerning.

“It was getting kind of worrisome from my side,” the foster father said.

At first, he thought that the young woman might have been “just over-exaggerating some of the stories” she was telling her.

“Unfortunately, no she wasn’t,” he said.

The trial is continuing.

Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of frontline experience as a probation officer.