Warning: This story deals with allegations of sexual assault and may be distressing.

“It is not a crime in law to have a relationship with your wife’s sister or have children with your wife’s sister. This is a court of law, it’s not a court of morals.”

That’s what a defence lawyer told a jury hearing the case of a man who is accused of raping his wife’s teenage sister.

The man, who can’t be named, claims it was a consensual relationship that started when she was of age.

Lawyer Nick Dutch said it was “no secret” the relationship resulted in the girl having three children with the man.

The Crown, however, says the sexual activity began when the girl was 15, and it hadn’t been consensual.

“[He] forced [the girl] into a sexual relationship with him, where she was made to do all sorts of sexual acts,” Crown prosecutor Camille Houia told a jury this week.

“[He] was in control of [her] life in a number of different ways. She was not allowed to dye her hair, or get a job, or leave the house without getting [his] permission first. He also had a financial hold on her...”

Houia said this may not seem unusual given the girl’s age, and the parental role he held, but it took on “a very sinister role of control and coercion when seen in the context of the sexual offending he was [allegedly] committing against her”.

The girl had eventually become isolated from her friends, Houia said, and had likely “confused his control and manipulation with love and affection”.

Houia said it was accepted she’d had three children with the man.

The man is on trial in the Tauranga District Court where he faces 29 charges, which are mostly allegations of sexual violation. Two charges allege physical violence.

Many of the charges are “alternative charges”, meaning that the jury has two options for each alleged sexual incident.

They can find the man guilty of raping the girl, or if they decide the sexual contact was consensual but happened when she was underage, they can find him guilty of sexual contact with a person under 16. Consent is not relevant for the alternative charge, as any sexual contact with a person under 16 is illegal, regardless of whether there is consent.

Some of the alternative charges are “sexual conduct with a dependent family member under 18 years”, which cover alleged sexual offending that happened when she was over 16, but still living with the defendant.

The Crown case is that the girl was 15 when she went to live with her sister and the defendant..

Her sister and the man had a number of children, and soon after the girl arrived, one of the children became unwell and was hospitalised.

While the girl’s sister was with the young child, the man allegedly violated the teen while they were watching a movie.

The Crown case is that what followed was around eight years of sexual contact, none of which was truly consensual.

The man allegedly forced the girl to perform oral sex on him while he dropped her to and from school, and would occasionally take her with him to work and sexually violate her in his truck.

Houia said the jury would need to be clear on what true consent was.

“[It’s] freely given, by someone who is in a position to make a rational decision. Lack of protest or physical resistance does not of itself amount to consent.”

However, the defence is that the relationship had been consensual from the start, and had produced three children.

Dutch said the complainant had a fantasy that she’d be able to remain in a relationship with her sister’s husband, with only her children there, and her sister and sister’s children out of the picture.

“Really a happy nuclear family ... and then everything went wrong,” Dutch said.

The teen ended up leaving the city they lived in with her three children and moved to Tauranga after it became clear the man was going to stay with his then-pregnant wife.

He sought to have the children returned to where he was living through family court proceedings.

“The family court case started and these criminal allegations have simply spilled over from the family court into this court.”

The defence says the girl backdated the relationship, and made up the allegations of rape, because of the family court proceedings.

The trial before Judge Bill Lawson is expected to go into next week.

SEXUAL HARM

Where to get help:
If it's an emergency and you feel that you or someone else is at risk, call 111.
If you've ever experienced sexual assault or abuse and need to talk to someone, contact Safe to Talk confidentially, any time 24/7:
• Call 0800 044 334
• Text 4334
• Email [email protected]
• For more info or to web chat visit safetotalk.nz
Alternatively contact your local police station - click here for a list.
If you have been sexually assaulted, remember it's not your fault.

Hannah Bartlett is a Tauranga-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She previously covered court and local government for the Nelson Mail, and before that was a radio reporter at Newstalk ZB.