A senior Northland police officer charged with four sexual offences against two women has taken the stand as a witness for the defence in his trial.
On Monday, under cross-examination in the High Court at Auckland, Kevin Burke said the relationship he had with one of the complainants was consensual.
Kevin Burke told the court he developed a friendship with one of the complainants after she reported a crime to him.
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Burke, who has since worked as a Detective Inspector in Northland, was an officer at the Orewa Police Station at the time.
In January 2002, on the night the alleged sexual offending took place, Burke says the complainant invited him to her house for dinner.
The 61-year-old says he and the complainant drank alcohol, and there was consensual sexual contact.
Crown Prosecutor Jo Murdoch doubts Burke's story.
"Do you not consider it unusual, that on meeting a woman in the course of your professional duties in a matter of days, you have gone on to have a sexual relationship with her?"
Ms Murdoch disputed Kevin Burke's account, saying the complainant did not have anything to drink, and became concerned about how much alcohol Burke had consumed.
The complainant then offered him the spare bedroom to stay in, and that is when the alleged sexual violation took place.
The trial in the High Court at Auckland continues.
Newshub.
