Quarry assault victim describes vicious attack

6:34 pm on 14 February 2018

A young woman who was kidnapped and taken to a quarry in west Auckland told police she would rather have died then carry out the demands of her attacker.

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The victim told police she came to hew senses while scrambling up a pile of gravel after being hit in the head with a bat. Photo: jorei2/123RF

The 24-year-old's police DVD interview was played to a closed courtroom at the High Court in Auckland today, where Colin Jack Mitchell is on trial.

Mr Mitchell is accused of abducting her from Great North Road in the early hours of a morning last February and driving her 25km to a quarry outside of town, where he beat and tried to sexually violate her.

He has denied the charges and his lawyers say the case is one of mistaken identity.

The court has heard how the woman was out drinking with friends during the Gay Pride parade.

Her memory was patchy, but the Crown's case was that she became separated from her friends and was on Great North Road when she was picked up by a man in a car.

In her DVD interview played to the closed courtroom today, she told the police her first memory of the incident was coming around to find she had blood on the side of her head.

Her dress was off and she could not recall how this had happened. She was lying on her side on gravel.

The woman said there was a man standing over her - it was dark but there was a light coming from behind him and she could see he was wearing a white face mask and holding a bat.

She said the man sounded strange as he began issuing demands that sounded almost robotic.

She begged him not to hurt her and told him he did not have to be this person. He made some kind of threat, telling her that she was going to get herself killed or something similar.

The woman told the police she knew what he wanted to do, but said she would rather die than let that happen.

The man then hit her in the head with the bat.

The woman described it as feeling like a burn and she believed she blacked out.

The next thing she knew, she was scrambling up a pile of gravel while on the phone to police.

The woman said she did not know where she was but followed a fenceline. She also did not know where her attacker was.

Eventually she found a building and a street sign and she was able to direct the police to where she was.

The court has also heard evidence from one of the first police officers on the scene.

Constable Kelvin Meek described seeing the victim for the first time as looking like someone had tipped a bucket of blood over her.

She was in a bad way with a large gash in her head, a split eyebrow and an injury to her arm.

Constable Meek stayed with her in the ambulance.

He relayed information back to the police on the ground but it seemed investigaters were unable to find the scene.

When his shift finished he drove back there. He told the court the victim had given him a lot of information.

He walked up a gravel track and eventually found the victim's shoes and a white face mask.

Constable Meek also found a black glove that would later become the crucial piece of evidence for the Crown.

DNA from the glove put Mr Mitchell at the scene.