[ad_1]
Stuff
Matthew James Butland is on trial in Palmerston North District Court, charged with raping a woman and forcing her to perform a sexual act.
A night out on the town to ease the pain of a miscarriage ended in the theft of rent money and the rape of a woman in a car, a court has heard.
The woman cried, rocked in her seat and hugged a cushion, another with the inscription “Good Vibes” sat nearby, as she gave testimony via audiovisual link in Palmerston North District Court on Wednesday.
Matthew James Butland, 27, is on trial, charged with raping and raping a woman in the early hours of May 30, 2015.
The woman said she had lost her baby and was still going through the miscarriage process the day before, so she invited a friend to her home.
READ MORE:
* Woman could ‘barely walk’ after alleged sexual assault, court heard
* Four American black men pardoned after being accused of rape in 1949
* Incarcerated rapist says jury shouldn’t have heard he just got out of prison
They had a few drinks before heading to the bars of Palmerston North.
“I wanted to get as drunk as possible to numb the feeling and not be alone,” she said.
She arranged for a babysitter before leaving and took $ 500 cash to pay rent and bills, as well as another $ 100 to spend in town.
He didn’t want to leave the rent money and bills at the house with the babysitter, he said.
The duo went to The Cobb and had a few drinks there, but had to leave when the woman’s friend started a scene.
“She called the waiter at The Cobb a whore.”
They were denied entry to The Royal before going to Shooters, which has since become The Daily.
He drank more and danced, but soon wanted to go home, he said.
Her friend said “cuzzie bro” would drive them home and introduced her to a tall man with a white car parked outside the bar.
She fell asleep in the front seat of the car, her friend was in the back, and she woke up in an area she didn’t recognize, without her friend.
The man took her bag and told her that he would not get it back unless she had sex with him.
She told him she didn’t want to because she was still going through her miscarriage, to which he responded by shutting up and saying that he cared about her.
He did as the man asked, then suddenly jumped on top of her and raped her, he said.
“I was scared. It hurt. I had a miscarriage and someone … raped me.”
He got out, handed her the bag and started driving after she got out of the car, he said.
The money was missing from her purse.
She ran to a nearby house and told the occupants that she had been raped.
While being questioned by defense attorney Hugh Leabourn, she denied any sexual activity on the Shooters dance floor.
“Why would I be interested in touching a man when I am going through a miscarriage?”
In her opening statement, Crown Prosecutor Miriam Wilkinson said tests found Butland’s DNA matched semen found in and on the woman’s underwear.
In his opening, Leabourn said that DNA testing was not the “complete answer” to the case.
Trial continues before Judge Lance Rowe and a jury.
