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Offender Databases Hemi Apanui

Hemi Joseph Apanui

Alias

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Offences

Kidnapped, raped and had unlawful sexual connection with a 27 year old woman and threatened to kill her in July 2009

Victims

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Offender Affiliations

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Gang affiliations

none known

Age

Born 1982

Current Location

Prison

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to 14 years with a 7 year minimum non-parole period in October 2010

Background
From Dominion Post story 12th August 2010
A Turangi man took a woman into a remote forestry clearing and threatened to kill her before raping her, a jury has found. Hemi Joseph Apanui, 28, a forestry worker, was found guilty in Rotorua District Court yesterday of threatening to kill, sexual violation by rape, sexual violation by unlawful connection and kidnapping. After a three-day trial this week, the jury took just over an hour to find him guilty on all charges. Apanui had denied the charges, telling the court during his evidence that the sex had been consensual.

In her evidence the complainant, who had name suppression, said she was offered a ride north from Wellington by Apanui in July last year. The pair had known each other from a forestry course two years beforehand. When they reached Lake Taupo, Apanui drove down a remote forestry road, stopped the vehicle and told the woman he was going to kill her. She broke down as she recounted how Apanui told her in a "calm and collected manner" to stand near a hole where he said he would bury her. She got down on her knees and begged him not to kill her, she told the court.

He demanded sex over a two- hour period, to which she relented in order to save her life. Apanui then left her in the forest to find her own way out. She was terrified he would return, and scrambled 16 kilometres through thick bush to State Highway 1, where she waved down a passing motorist. She was taken home by a friend and the next day made a complaint to police. Apanui told the court the complainant "came onto him" sexually during the trip. She had methamphetamine, which they shared, and they had consensual sex twice on the journey.

Crown prosecutor Amanda Gordon said the woman's evidence was consistent with what had happened because "the events had been burnt on to her memory". Apanui had not told the truth and his story was manufactured and full of inconsistencies, she said. He initially denied the incident had happened and then changed his story of the pair having consensual sex after forensic samples were matched to his DNA. Apanui's lawyer, Ian Farquhar, said Apanui had been offered sex and drugs by the woman as payment for the ride. "If he wanted to kill her, why did he leave it until he got to Lake Taupo?" Apanui will be sentenced on October 15.

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Corrections and Additional Information
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