Video shows consent – accused
After being accused of rape by a woman, John Hope Muchirahondo has produced a video of them appearing to have consensual sex on the night in question.
The woman says she thought the man she was having sex with was her boyfriend, who she can be heard naming in the clip, and that at no time did she consent to being filmed.
It’s the latest development in Muchirahondo’s trial in the High Court at Christchurch. The 38-year-old is facing 32 charges, all but one of which alleges sexual assault.
On July 25, 2019, the woman told police she was drinking with friends at her flat six days earlier when Muchirahondo and a group of his friends came over. She was drunk. Her vision was blurry, she couldn’t walk properly and had been sick several times. She eventually put herself to bed and woke a short time later to vomit. She had to crawl to the toilet.
Muchirahondo came into her room to give her a bucket. She vomited, then blacked out fully clothed with the lights still on. When she woke up it was dark, she was naked and
Muchirahondo was on top of her having sex with her, she told the detective.
“I didn’t understand what was going on. I started yelling at him ‘please don’t, it hurts’.”
Muchirahondo stopped and the woman blacked out again, she said. When she woke up later, his head was between her legs and he was kissing her, holding her arms down at the same time, she said. She kicked him before blacking out again, she said.
“When I told him to stop I remember him saying, ‘no baby, it’s OK, go back to sleep’.”
The next day, she was still confused and worried she may have contracted a sexually transmitted disease. She messaged Muchirahondo on Facebook asking if he was “clean”.
“He replied yes, and he was like ‘you felt real clean and sweet’. That disgusted me.”
In court, the woman said Muchirahondo bit her body and legs. Photographs of her bruises were shown to the jury.
A phone call between them about a month after the alleged incident, recorded by police, was played yesterday, including:
Woman: “Would you mind telling me actually what happened, because I blacked out and I don’t remember.”
Hope: “Where are you, because I need to talk to you … Did [you] report this to the police that I sexually assaulted [you]?”
Woman: “I want you to tell me what happened that night. Do you remember how drunk I was?” Hope: [Laughs] “If you want to know what happened you say, ‘Hope, please. I don’t really remember what happened’.”
Hope: “You agreed to me coming into your bed and having sex with you.”
Woman: “I don’t remember that at all Hope. I remember me blacking out on the floor.”
Hope: “I’m telling you what happened. What you think about it is not in my care.”
Hope: “You can’t remember anything, I remember what happened.”
Woman: “You knew I was drunk as hell.” Hope: “So if someone is drunk, they cannot have sex? Is that what you’re telling me?”
Woman: “Obviously you knew how drunk I was, you can’t say that.”
Hope: “There is no way you can say ‘oh yeah, you knew how drunk I was’.”
The woman then ended the call. Defence lawyer Anselm Williams produced two videos that appeared to depict the woman and Muchirahondo having consensual sex on the night of the alleged incident.
“That was Mr Muchirahondo having sex with you, wasn’t it?,” Williams asked.
“Yes … But I was too drunk and I didn’t realise in that moment what was happening, I thought it was [my boyfriend] ... He was supposed to be there that night,” the woman replied.
“You could hear yourself being actively engaged in the sex, couldn’t you?,” Williams asked.
“Yes, in this video, yes,” she responded. Prosecutor Will Taffs asked why she named her boyfriend in the clip.
“I thought the sex was with him,” she replied. She said she did not consent to being filmed.
The woman is the fifth complainant in the trial. Nine more will be called over the next five or so weeks. The trial in front of Justice Lisa Preston and a jury continues.