Accused wouldn’t hurt a fly, ex-girlfriend tells trial
Fellow US citizen Alayna Rodgers, a professional singer, told Tokyo District Court yesterday she had dated Mr Hinds three years ago, when she was 17 and he was 16. He had never once hit her or been rough with her, she added.
Asked if he had ever been violent or used foul language toward her or anyone else, Ms Rodgers said: “No, never. ... He was sweet and fun to be around.
“He wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
The two had sex around three times a week and they had always been careful to use contraception in line with their shared Christian belief in not having children out of wedlock. Asked if they had ever engaged in so-called “rough” sex, Ms Rodgers said they had not.
They had split up after 11 months, but through no fault of Mr Hinds, whom she had met through his brother, Claude, a fellow member of a band in Memphis, where they are from.
There had followed a hiatus where the two did not communicate, but they had subsequently put their differences aside and resumed their relationship, but only platonically, she said.
Asked by the defence if she thought Mr Hinds was capable of committing the crime of which he is accused, Ms Rodgers said she found it inconceivable. “It doesn’t make sense,” said Ms Rodgers.
Asked how she reacted upon hearing of his arrest on suspicion of killing the Co Wexford student at Tokyo’s Keio Plaza hotel last May, Ms Rodgers said: “I couldn’t believe it and I still don’t believe it,” she added.
Naoko Wada of the prosecution asked the witness if she thought Mr Hinds was capable of chatting up women he didn’t know and then taking them somewhere to have sex. Ms Rodgers replied that she did not think he would do such a thing.
The prosecution then presented a transcribed portion of the conversation between the defendant and his friend James Blackston inside the taxi as they headed toward the Keio Plaza with Ms Furlong and her friend slouched unconscious in the back on that fateful day last May.
In it Mr Hinds says to Mr Blackston: “These girls are so fucked up. Hey, we can fuck ’em,” — one of several exchanges that suggested the men were intent on assaulting the women.
When asked if perhaps Ms Rodgers only knew one part of the defendant’s personality, the witness said: “I know all parts of him.”
Earlier, a Japanese doctor testifying for the defence said that it was impossible to say exactly what effect the drug found in the blood of Ms Furlong could have had on her. He conceded, however, that the active ingredient in the stress-reducing medication Xanax could have been the cause of the 21-year-old’s impaired condition on the night of her death.
When asked by the defence if the drug’s active ingredient, Alprazoram, could have dangerous effects when mixed with alcohol, Dr Masaki Hiraiwa, a specialist in cancer treatment, said that he always advised his patients not to mix the two.
Dr Hiraiwa admitted he did not know the medication Xanax, which had been prescribed to Ms Furlong by her doctor in Ireland but is not available in Japan. However, he had significant experience administering a similar medication, called Solanax, to his cancer patients in order to help them cope with the distress caused by their condition.
While the drug taken on its own largely did not have any dangerous side effects, it could cause drowsiness and memory loss in some people and was a reason why he prescribed small doses for many of his patients.
The smallest dose he prescribed was 0.4mg tablets, almost double the dosage of those taken by Ms Furlong. On average the effect of the drug would peak after two hours and would stay in the bloodstream for around half a day, he said.
One of the three professional judges asked Dr Hiraiwa if the 0.25mg medication prescribed for Ms Furlong was strong as an anti-anxiety drug.
The witness said he thought it was a very low dosage compared with that administered in Japan.
The trial continues.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
