| crime.files |
| |
 |
|
| crime.features |
| |
|
|
| crime.resources |
| |
|
|
| crime.co.nz |
| |
|
|
|
| |
Victim cross-examined in court by abductor
An 18 year old woman’s nightmare began to relive itself as the man who had held her captive, chained her up and raped her for 8 days approached the stand to cross-examine her during his own trail.
Dismissing the four lawyers that had been assigned to him over the previous year enabled 29 year old Jason John Cumming to represent himself in the High Court in Christchurch in November 2002.
Cumming was said to have held the woman (17 years old at the time) a prisoner at his Christchurch flat in October 2001. He alleged that his victim had been working for an east-side Maori gang and that she had been sent to him to set him up for a crime.
According to his defence, he kept the woman chained up at night to avoid her attacking him. The clearly terrified woman only escaped from Cumming when she leapt from a car and ran for help.
Little more then a year after the event she was forced to answer a cross-examination from him - a situation he appeared to enjoy as he paused for long periods and spent a lot of time discussing the sexual details of the event.
The jury in the case returned with a guilty verdict on all 8 charges against Cummings on 14th November 2002 and he was sentenced to preventive detention on the 18th December 2002.
Since then the law that allowed Jason John Cumming to cross-examine his victim on the stand has been reviewed and a law change is expected during 2003.
|
|
|
An 18 year old woman’s nightmare began to relive itself as the man who had held her captive, chained her up and raped her for 8 days approached the stand to cross-examine her during his own trail. |
|