This article deals with allegations of rape and sexual violation and may be distressing for some readers.

When a 16-year-old agreed to go to Mount Maunganui’s Bayfair with a man she had been messaging on Snapchat, she says there were no set plans for sexual contact.

But as she walked across the nearby rugby field, and saw Raveen Saily had a knife, she began to sense something might be wrong, a court has been told.

By the time they reached the Arataki Community Centre changing rooms, and the 20-year-old told her they should go inside, she says “My heart felt like it was jumping out of my chest”.

She alleges he had earlier grabbed her forcefully as they walked, and once they were at the changing rooms he told her that if she didn’t come inside, he would hurt her with the knife.

Once inside, she says he forced her, by pushing on her shoulders, down onto her knees where he made her perform a sex act, stopping when she vomited.

She alleges he then “told her” to have sexual intercourse, by sitting on his lap, before he further violated her.

Raveen is on trial in the Tauranga District Court this week, facing charges of indecent assault, rape, and sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection.

The pair had been introduced by a friend of the 16-year-old, whom the court heard had met Raveen online and wanted to meet him in a public place.

The two girls met Raveen at Bayfair, where they both alleged he introduced himself as “John”.

After that meeting, the 16-year-old complainant says Raveen had added her on Snapchat and their conversations began.

They agreed to meet again at Bayfair on Labour Day 2021, and the 16-year-old arrived there by bus about midday.

The public changing room at the Arataki Community Centre where a 16-year-old says she was raped and violated by then-20-year-old Raveen Saily in 2021. Photo: NZME.

Raveen’s lawyer Bill Nabney put to the teen that the sexual acts had been pre-planned, through their Snapchat messaging in the lead-up to their meeting.

He suggested the teen had told the man she would perform a sex act when the pair had been having “sexual talk” over Snapchat, with the teen sending photos of herself, partially clothed.

The girl says under cross-examination she had felt pressured to agree, but had done so reluctantly, and there had been nothing to indicate that would happen on the Monday when she met him at Bayfair.

The pair had discussed other sexual acts, but the girl says she had not agreed to any of those things because she’d had no experience of them.

But Bill put to her that she hadn’t been surprised when Raveen had been carrying a knife that day, because they’d already discussed “kinky knife stuff.”

The teen says while they had talked about it, she hadn’t says it was something she was comfortable with.

“We had the conversation but we didn’t clarify that [the knife] was going to be present on Monday,” she says.

She disagreed with Bill’s suggestion that she’d never been dragged by the arm as she’d described, pointing to CCTV footage that did not show any grabbing or pulling, but simply the two walking together, with her following behind.

She says the grabbing and pulling had happened when they were out of view of the CCTV cameras.

The CCTV footage prompted further questions from Bill, as the girl was viewed standing outside the changing rooms, for just under a minute, before she followed him into the public bathrooms where she alleges he raped her.

CCTV footage showed the pair outside the entrance to the public changing rooms on Labour Day 2021. Photo: NZME.

Bill says she hadn’t been forced to follow him in, but the teen says she had been too frightened not to, as he had threatened her with a knife.

“Based on my fitness, I knew there was no way of me getting away,” she says.

“When there’s a knife involved, you don’t risk it.”

Bill put to her that everything that happened had been consensual.

He says it was only later, after she and Raveen had walked back to Bayfair together and then to the bus stop, and she was on the bus home, that she’d become afraid her parents would find out.

He says she’d “had a change of heart”.

She had made allegations of rape and sexual violation to “get in first” before her parents found out she had “been with a man”.

The girl says this wasn’t true.

“I wouldn’t lie about this,” she says.

Snapchat profiles and screenshots

One of the features of the trial is the role of Snapchat, both in the interactions between Raveen and the 16-year-old, and between her and her sister, and another friend.

All the teen’s social media interactions with Raveen allegedly happened on the photo-sharing app, where she says she had sent an image of herself partially clothed.

She says this was in response to his asking for them, but Bill put to her that she had sent them unsolicited.

She disagreed.

She says after the alleged incident, Raveen had “blocked” her on the app, and she could no longer find his profile, having known him only as “John”, or by his Snapchat profile name, “Jumping Potatoes”.

The 16-year-old also used Snapchat to message her younger sister, confiding in her, after some hesitancy, about what she alleges happened.

After telling her sister, “he just... raped me”, she later says, “I didn’t know he was 20... Yes... He’s on Snap.”

The teen also told her sister that the man was a friend of a friend from high school.

The sister asked if the friend knew his name, to which she replied, “No”.

The sister replied over Snapchat, “HOW DOES SHE NOT KNOW HIS NAME”.

The teen explained that her friend had also met the man over Snapchat, before writing on the chat, “Mom and [Dad] are going to take my phone away”.

The trial continues.

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 support@safetotalk.nz
• 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.