Sex continued after 20-year-old got 13-year-old girl pregnant, court hears
Thursday, 23 January 2025
A 20-year-old man continued his sexual relationship with a 13-year-old girl - even after getting her pregnant, a court has heard.
Luca Benedict Kercher Fairgray is on trial at the Auckland District Court.
Now aged 21, he has denied three charges of sexual connection with a young person under 16 but pleaded guilty to a charge of supplying cannabis to the girl.
The Crown’s case is that the girl met Fairgray online and told him she was 13 before they began a sexual relationship. Fairgray’s lawyers say the girl told their client she was 16.
Giving evidence by CCTV in a closed courtroom and under cross-examination from Fairgray’s lawyer Susan Gray, the girl confirmed the social media application she and Fairgray met on required users to be over 18.
“The thing is,” she said, “to be honest, I don’t think that makes sense. The majority of the users are my age.”
Gray said Fairgray will tell the court that she told her client she was 16 years old.
The girl answered: “That’s not true.”
The girl told the court that Fairgray came to her house the following night and the pair had sex after watching a movie and smoking cannabis.
She said the pair walked to a nearby McDonald’s but on the way they came across police cars with their sirens going and Fairgray ran away.
Gray said Fairgray will tell the court that was also a lie. She responded: “No, it’s true.”
She said Fairgray came to her house about five times, late at night, and would often leave in the early hours of the morning to avoid being spotted by her mother.
“He jumped through the window of my bedroom.”
The girl said she had also shown Fairgray her school uniform and denied Gray’s accusation that that was something she made up.
She said on one occasion, she and Fairgray went to a petrol station where he bought her a pregnancy test. She took the test in the petrol station bathroom - it was positive - and told Fairgray the result in the car.
The girl agreed with Gray that Fairgray was crying but denied that was the moment Fairgray found out she was 13.
Gray said Fairgray will tell the court that their relationship was not sexual after the girl became pregnant. The girl said the sex continued.
The court has heard that Fairgray went on to book the girl in for an abortion and provided her correct date of birth.
The police became aware of the relationship. Gray asked the girl about a text message she sent her friend in which she reportedly said she was “scamming” Fairgray.
“Did you tell Luca [Fairgray] that you would refuse to co-operate with police if he paid for your shopping cart on Temu [online shopping]?”
Gray reworded her question before the girl said “I want to stop, I want to stop”, and walked away from the camera. There was a short break before she finished giving her evidence.
The trial, before Judge Thomas and a jury, is set to hear from 12 witnesses over two weeks.