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New Zealand Police v Bang [2019] NZDC 9746

Published 01 October 2019

Indecent assault — Category 3 offending — judge-alone trial — beyond reasonable doubt — Uber. The defendant faced a judge-alone trial on one charge of indecent assault. The defendant, an Uber driver, was alleged to have picked up the complainant from a residential address following a party and made sexual advances, including grabbing the complainant's hand and then touching her inner thigh and breast. The defendant elected not to give evidence, as was his right. The police relied on the unchallenged evidence of the complainant's friend who corroborated the complainant's account that she was not intoxicated. The complainant, after leaving the vehicle, had immediately made a complainant to Uber through the company app and told her friend from the party. The Judge was satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt with the complainant's account, her relative level of non-intoxication, the unchallenged evidence of the friend and her conduct following the alleged incident. The charge was proven and the defendant convicted. Judgment Date: 20 May 2019.