The identity of a prominent New Zealand actor charged with sex crimes can be revealed as Rene Naufahu.
The 46-year-old actor writer and director, best known for his work playing Sam Aleni on Shortland Street, has given up his fight to keep his name secret.
"Suppression was only ever reluctantly sought by me to preserve my ability to continue to work and to try and minimise the disruption on my family who I love" he said in a statement.
"I did not seek suppression to hide from these allegations. I don't.
"I am pleased to make this decision and I know that it is right. I am quite prepared to confront these charges openly and will do so. "
Naufahu went on trial on December 7, facing 12 charges of indecent assault and unlawful sexual connection against four women he taught in one-on-one acting lessons.
But that trial was aborted, and he now faces 17 charges against seven women between November 2010 and July 2013.
A second jury trial, including the five new charges and three new complainants, is expected this year.
In the original trial, Crown prosecutor Claire Patterson said Naufahu used acting exercises to set up sexual scenarios. She described an exercise called 'push and pull' where he would allegedly touch the women, and they would be asked to respond to his energy.
The Crown said he told them they were making great progress but they were sexually inhibited, and if they loosened up they would become better actors. It was allegedly a "deliberate, gradual, methodical" escalation that ended with Naufahu touching breasts and genitals.
But defence lawyer Ron Mansfield said the women colluded about their stories and exaggerated them. He said what happened is "hotly contested" and said there was no touching of breasts or genitals, but the kissing was "informed consent".
There was eventually a consensual affair with one complainant, he said, and it was only when the actor ended it that a police complaint was made.
Naufahu said: "I am confident that I will not be judged in the meantime and until all the relevant facts are known, not just what is currently being alleged."
The actor is best known for his work in the early days of Shortland Street as paramedic Sam Aleni.
In 2014, he made a comeback for a time on the show.
Also that year, he wrote and directed The Last Saint, a movie about a Polynesian boy pulled into Auckland's underground drug world.
Overseas, he's better known for his role as 'Mentor Ji' in Power Rangers.
Newshub.
