Since charges were laid in February last year, there have been repeated false starts after the complainant failed to show up at court. She was eventually arrested and bailed for her behaviour and during her time in the witness box was ruled to be hostile by Judge Michael Crosbie. Police became involved in November 2017 and spoke to the complainant four days after the last argument she had with her partner. The complainant told a doctor she had been slapped in the face 50 times but during the trial she claimed that was an exaggeration. Another witness - a male friend of the complainant - is expected to give evidence she told him about being strangled by the man.

Source: Otago Daily Times March 26, 2019 15:33 UTC