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A Nelson woman who said she was sexually assaulted while hitchhiking in the Maitai Valley last month fabricated the complaint, police say. The 21-year-old woman said she was hitchhiking from Richmond to Nelson on February 15 when she was picked up by a man in his 70s. She said he locked her in the car and drove to the Maitai Valley near Nelson where he sexually assaulted her. A police investigation has revealed the complaint was fabricated. Detective Senior Sergeant Wayne McCoy said such complaints received priority and significant time and resources had been tied up investigating it. "To receive a false complaint is disappointing on several fronts. Resources that could have been used investigating other genuine complaints had been tied up and on top of that the public of Nelson have been led to believe they should be fearful for their safety," said Mr McCoy. The woman would be summonsed for making a false complaint to police.

A Masterton woman falsely claimed to have been raped because she wanted police to give her a ride home after watching a male strip show. Helen Maree Bidlake, 25, was yesterday convicted of making a false statement and sentenced to 100 hours' community work when she was sentenced in Masterton District Court. According to the police summary of facts, on April 17 Bidlake, who is unemployed, attended a male strip show in Greytown. She did not want to pay for a taxi back to Masterton so rang 111 and said she had been raped by a male she had met at the show.

Pregnant north Taranaki woman has told a jury she lied to police when she accused her partner of raping and assaulting her. The man, in his 30s, cannot be named in order to protect his partner's identity. In the New Plymouth District Court yesterday the unemployed man denied raping the woman, indecently assaulting her and assaulting her with intent to injure her on the night of June 15 last year. Crown prosecutor Justin Marinovich said the case involved the woman being dominated physically, mentally and sexually by the accused. The woman told police her partner had raped her, strangled her, kicked and bitten her, and forced her to go with him to New Plymouth to buy cannabis.