The jury recounted how the abducted woman was assaulted and had her finger cut off in the Wellington ordeal

A woman was abducted, held under water and left unconscious before her finger was cut off, a Wellington court has heard.

The woman, whose name has been suppressed, suffered heartbreak five days after she was abducted outside a hotel in central Wellington last year.

Tim Bain told a jury in Wellington Superior Court security footage that showed the woman clinging to a tree before she was persuaded to leave, Stuff reported.

Samuel Anthony Gray, 28, and Pamela Saili Kalepo, 38, have pleaded not guilty to charges of abducting and disfiguring the woman with the intention of causing serious bodily harm.

However, Kalepo pleaded guilty to assaulting the woman. Bain told the jury today that he beat her when he confronted her about a debt.

The Crown says Gray was in the back seat of the car when the woman was abducted in Cuba St.

He put a chain around her neck and told her that the kidnappers could do whatever they wanted with her, Stuff reported.

The Crown alleges that Kalepo’s husband, Willie Malua Bentley, kept the woman underwater after taking her into the sea at Waitaha Cove.

She walked away from him, but was ordered to return to shallower water while those in the tent threw stones at her.

Kalepo tried, but couldn’t cut off the woman’s middle finger after she was dragged ashore to nearby rocks, Bain said.

As Malua Bentley prepared to cut her index finger, the woman screamed and was knocked unconscious before her finger was cut off.

Gray allegedly stood on the woman’s hand after her finger was removed.

But his lawyer said Gray wasn’t even there when the kidnapping and assault happened.

The woman was held in captivity, naked, from March 13 to 18, Bain said.
She was sexually assaulted during that time.

Bain said no one has since been charged with the attacks.

The woman was only given rags to wrap her bleeding hand. She managed to escape while those who held her captive slept.

Kalepo’s attorney said she was not involved in removing the woman’s finger and did not detain her. The woman was free to go, as far as Kalepo is concerned, her attorney said.

Malua Bentley was sentenced last month to six years and nine months in jail by Judge Simon France for his role in the kidnapping.

The 32-year-old man previously pleaded guilty to kidnapping and causing serious bodily harm in connection with the incident.

The French judge said the woman was kidnapped and held for several days in connection with a drug debt in what he said was “a very cruel and violent crime.”

France said the man’s actions were insensitive and caused mental and physical trauma.