Witness admits errors in testimony
A teenager who says she witnessed the rape of her 14-year-old friend by a group of men told a jury she knew immediately that the matter would end up in court.
However, she also admitted that she had made some errors during her testimony.
Four men aged 19 to 21, none of whom can be identified for legal reasons, are accused of serious sexual assault against the girl on the night of July 27 last year. One of the accused is also charged with getting the victim to drink alcohol.
“I knew it was coming to this stage, once they started having sex with her,” the witness told the Supreme Court yesterday as her evidence was questioned by defence lawyers.
Asking her if she’d “stood there and watched” as the assault took place, lawyer Elizabeth Christopher questioned how her phone had been able to illuminate the scene.
“Why didn’t you take pictures if you wanted to have evidence?” Ms Christopher asked, to which the witness replied: “I don’t want no porn in my phone.”
The witness and the jury were shown a series of images taken by police from the girl’s phone, which she admitted was “porn” — but she added that she hadn’t remembered it was there.
Pointing to variations between evidence given on the stand and earlier accounts to police and to Magistrates’ Court, Ms Christopher called the girl’s version of events “gibberish”.
The witness admitted she’d erred in saying she had spoken to one of the defendants out in the road instead of in the back yard where the alleged assault took place.
“How would you make a mistake like that?” Ms Christopher asked her.
“I’m human,” the witness told the court. “Everybody makes mistakes.”
The case continues today.