One of the women who has alleged she was assaulted by an entertainment industry figure told the man 'think of your wife and children” while he was sexually assaulting her, the woman told a court.

The woman, who like the man at the centre of the allegations cannot be named for legal reasons, was giving evidence at the High Court in Rotorua on Monday at the second week of the man's trial.

Under questioning from Crown prosecutor Anna Pollett, the woman was asked what she says while it was alleged he had her pinned against a wall and was sexually assaulting her.

'What are you doing? Think of your wife and children, get off me,” she says.

'I thought saying ‘think of your pregnant wife' might make him stop”.

The woman says the alleged assault ended when another man entered the room, and subsequently comforted her and stayed with her.

That assault, which is alleged to have taken place in 2021, was also the subject of evidence from a former business associate of the defendant.

He says he heard the allegation from a trusted source, and also that the man had a 'reputation”.

The man's lawyer Ron Mansfield KC, pictured at a separate trial, argued his client was forced to sell shares in a profitable business in the wake of one allegation. Photo: David White/Stuff.

He also revealed a meeting was held with the man, where he says in relation to the alleged assault 'perhaps I'd taken it too far this time”.

He says he was disappointed as 'we'd discussed things like this in the past”.

He also says rumours about the man's behaviour had begun to circulate within the industry, and it was starting to affect their business.

'It wasn't only affecting our joint companies. . . people in the industry didn't want me to be a part of it, because of our connections to [the defendant]”.

Defence lawyer Ron Mansfield KC says the witness had 'used this allegation to force [the defendant] to sell his shares in a very successful [business]”.

'Get his shares at a very good price, and well below market value,” he says.

The man pushed back at those claims, however, saying the defendant 'got the price he wanted for his shares”.

He faces 25 charges, including rape, indecent assault, sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, assault with intent to commit sexual violation, attempted sexual violation, indecent assault and attempting to pervert justice.

The trial is taking place at the High Court in Rotorua and is expected to last six weeks. Photo: Stuff.

He also faces drug and burglary charges, and the allegations refer to multiple North Island locations.

Opening addresses from both Pollett and Mansfield have painted very different picture of what is alleged to have happened.

Pollett​ listed allegations, including a claim the man forced himself on a woman, and that in an Auckland restaurant he 'dipped his fingers in white powder” and pushed them into a woman's mouth.

She says the woman was drunk and unable to give consent for the sexual activity that followed.

'The defendant knew she was not in any state to consent,” she says.

One alleged rape victim was told after the assault 'that's what sluts deserve”, Pollett says, and he also allegedly let himself into a woman's house and she awoke to find him on top of her.

'She thought she was going to be raped,” Pollett says.

Pollett says the man had approached a relative of two complainants, once charges had been laid, and told him he had 'hired the best lawyer in town to discredit [them] if they took the stand”.

She says one complainant, allegedly drugged before being assaulted, says she was 'too embarrassed to go to the police”.

'She was not in control of her body and he was too popular.”

Mansfield began his brief opening by telling the jury the Crown had painted his client in 'the worst case possible”.

He also says his client would give evidence himself, and that 'the allegations don't represent anything close to what happened”.

The man was popular, he says, so didn't need to 'resort to that type of technique to have sex with women”.

He described his client as a man who had gone 'from rags to riches”, and that while 'many in our community adore him, along come the haters”.

'He's bent a few noses. . . they are more than willing to see this man fall down.”

He also admitted his client had enjoyed 'sex and drugs and rock'n roll” but that his behaviour 'certainly didn't involve drugging women”.

Mansfield says most complainants came from the same 'sex, drugs and rock'n roll” background, and that police had actively sought out people to make allegations.

'A Me Too fest. . . people reinventing the night they spent with him,” he says.

'Reimagined into an account that sounds like a sexual assault.”

The trial is set to continue and is expected to last six weeks.

- Benn Bathgate/Stuff.