WARNING: This story contains deals with allegations of sexual harm and may be upsetting.

Sexually explicit text messages a tattoo artist initially denied sending a teenage girl were only “for shock value”, he has told a jury.

Peter John Roberts, known as Shakey Pete in the industry, initially told police he never sent the messages to the young woman, but today admitted in the New Plymouth District Court they were just “banter” and jokes.

“I was just doing it for shock value,” he told the court during cross-examination his evidence.

Roberts, who has also been accused of groping the girl and another female client, pleaded not guilty to one charge of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection and six of indecent assault when the trial began last week.

Today he took the stand in his own defence in front of Judge Gregory Hikaka and a jury of five men and seven women.

The offending is alleged to have taken place between January and the end of July 2020 in New Plymouth.

The inconsistencies in Roberts’ evidence were exposed by Crown solicitor Cherie Clarke who pushed him to admit sending the 18-year-old girl sexually explicit messages, despite earlier denying this in his police interview.

However, Roberts, who has worked in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, claimed it was just banter and there was no sexual motivation.

• Tattoo artist alleged to have groped and indecently touched female clients
• Tattoo artist allegedly told female clients intimate touching was okay

Roberts denied he began grooming the girl shortly after meeting her when he was working at New Plymouth’s Brutal Ink studio but admitted he began following her social media accounts.

He said they talked about everything online and even acknowledged he had asked her for sex but rejected any suggestion it was inappropriate.

When Clarke asked Roberts about an exchange of messages where he told the girl her mother was safe but she was not, he put it down to his sense of humour.

“They were not meant in that way.”

Roberts also claimed there was nothing inappropriate about telling the teenager she had a “nice butt”.

“They were just a joking nature. I wasn’t lying. In my mind, it wasn’t sexual because I was joking.”

He also denied asking another female client if she wanted to go on a date.

“I asked her if she wanted to go out for a drink.”

He blamed social media for the similarity between the complaints women in the UK made about his alleged inappropriate behaviour years earlier and those made by the two Taranaki women.

After being fired from Brutal Ink Roberts said he did a “mass delete” on his phone of anyone he believed was saying anything bad about him.

Roberts said he was aware there was a teenager in the UK claiming on social media he raped her, as he left for New Zealand in 2018.

He maintained the sex was consensual during questioning, despite Clarke pointing him to a message between the pair where she used the word rape and he had apologised.

“She didn’t say that to my face personally. I still thought it was consensual.”

Under re-examination by defence lawyer Patrick Mooney, Roberts said he had booked his ticket to New Zealand well before the allegation of rape was made.

At Mooney’s request, Roberts read out the last message he sent to the young woman: “I’m sorry if I upset you, I just wanted you to like me as much as I liked you.”

Mooney then asked why he had used the word “if”.

“I didn’t know if I had upset her or not,” Roberts replied.

Earlier Roberts told Mooney he had to abruptly leave a tattoo studio he was working at in Perth, Western Australia, in 2017 after he and his ex-girlfriend had a falling out.

Later he was sacked from another studio after claims he was a racist and a thief were posted online.

“It became impossible to ever work in Australia again as a tattooist.”

Roberts said the allegations followed him back to the UK and he became aware of a Facebook page called “Time’s Up Shakey Pete”.

He said more and more people were joining in and making claims to the extent the page became a dedicated website.

Roberts described how tattooists needed to keep the skin taut where they were working and how he would apologise to clients.

“Any time my hand goes in what I think is near a sensitive area, I apologise for where my hand is going.”

He admitted he would need to stretch the skin on clients’ buttocks but denied ever groping or fondling them.

Roberts admitted he had “poked” the teenager’s bottom, just above the crack, but denied it was a slap when asked by Mooney.

“It was the end of the session and I was like you are done, boom.”

He said he picked up his toilet humour from some of the old rough studios he worked in during his early years as a tattooist and telling someone they had a nice “bum” was a compliment he made to everyone.

“It doesn’t matter if you are a male or female.”

The prosecution and defence will make their closing statements on Wednesday before the jury retires to consider its verdict.

SEXUAL HARM

Where to get help:
If it's an emergency and you feel that you or someone else is at risk, call 111.
If you've ever experienced sexual assault or abuse and need to talk to someone, contact Safe to Talk confidentially, any time 24/7:
• Call 0800 044 334
• Text 4334
• Email [email protected]
• For more info or to web chat visit safetotalk.nz
Alternatively contact your local police station - click here for a list.
If you have been sexually assaulted, remember it's not your fault.