Teenager’s rape proved, jury finds
A 17-year-old girl was raped and sexually violated by two men on the roof of the New Brighton Surf Club, a Christchurch District Court jury has found with a series of guilty verdicts.
The jury found one of the men not guilty on two charges at the end of the five-day trial before Judge Jane Farish, but both men are now in custody awaiting sentencing in March on the remaining charges.
Judge Farish asked for a victim impact report on the teenager to be prepared ahead of the sentencing, as well as pre-sentence reports on the two men, Parampreet Singh, 26, and Amritpal Singh, 23.
The men are friends but are not related. A Punjabi interpreter was in court to assist during the trial.
Judge Farish thanked the jury members for their commitment to the task, after they had deliberated for more than a day. She complimented them on reaching unanimous verdicts.
“I can see from the looks on your faces that you found it quite difficult,” she told them. “I don’t disagree with your verdicts and I understand how you have reached the verdicts you have delivered.”
The girl had told the court of meeting a man she knew as “Johnny” – Parampreet Singh – after they had been in contact on the Tagged website, which people can use as a dating website.
He picked her up on the night of December 23, 2013, with his friend in the car, and they went to New Brighton for an evening that she thought would involve drinking “and talking rubbish”.
She drank vodka given to her in the surf club carpark, and said she was shocked and did not know what to do when Parampreet Singh began having sex with her in the car.
The jury found him not guilty on charges of sexually violating her by digital penetration and rape in the car, but convicted both men of sex offending for what happened when she had become more intoxicated on the roof of the surf club.
By then she had been “helped or half-dragged” up the steps to the roof, the Crown said. She was feeling sick and her head was spinning. She had to stop several times while the men took turns having sex with her, in order to try to vomit.
The jury convicted both men of rapes on the roof, forcing her to perform oral sex, and sexual violation by digital penetration by Amiritpal Singh.
The defence concentrated on the issue of the men’s claims that they believed they had the girl’s consent for what occurred, but the jury was told of an exchange of text messages between the men next day, saying, “Any risk so far?” and “You may be in trouble.” The reply was, “Both may be in trouble.”
Category: News
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