ALDEN WILLIAMS/Stuff
Two men facing lengthy jail terms for drugging and sexually attacking numerous women patrons at Christchurch’s Mama Hooch bar will continue their fight for secrecy on Tuesday.
The Mama Hooch sexual predators will fight to keep their names secret at a court hearing in Christchurch on Tuesday.
In one of the biggest prosecutions of its kind in New Zealand, the 40-year-old and 37-year-old men were convicted of dozens of crimes – including rape, sexual violation, indecent assault, and spiking drinks – after a two-month trial in the Christchurch District Court that began in February.
The 40-year-old attacked 15 women, many of whom he brazenly followed into the toilets late at night at Mama Hooch and forced himself upon them. The 37-year-old sexually assaulted five women – filming one of them while he raped her at another central city location.
Appeals against Judge Paul Mabey’s decision to refuse name suppression at the end of their trial will be heard at the High Court in Christchurch by Justice Jonathan Eaton on Tuesday afternoon.
READ MORE:
* ‘Reasonable doubt’ leads to not guilty verdict for fourth Mama Hooch defendant
* ‘I just roofied her drink’: Mama Hooch sexual predators joked about rape and drink-spiking in secret WhatsApp group chat
* Serial predators drugged, sexually assaulted more than a dozen women patrons from Christchurch’s Mama Hooch bar
Media representatives and the Crown will oppose the appeals while defence lawyers for both of the now-convicted men will argue why their names should be kept out of the public eye.
The grounds for the men’s appeals are suppressed.
It is unclear at this stage whether the judge’s decision will be immediate or reserved. If the appeals are unsuccessful, higher courts provide a further potential avenue to continue their fight.
During the trial, WhatsApp group chat exchanges revealed the two men and their associates targeted young females at Mama Hooch, encouraging each other along the way. They joked about rape and the use of date rape drugs in females drinks.
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The pair spun five years of lies and often blamed their victims.
The 40-year-old sexual predator attacked five women after he was first interviewed by a detective in May 2018.
One of the victims of the 37-year-old rapist previously told Stuff that she began shaking uncontrollably and had a panic attack after she ran into him during a night out at Christchurch Casino.
For nearly two years, she had lived in fear of the man who’d drugged and sexually assaulted her and her friend after a night out at Mama Hooch in July 2018.
The two men are in custody awaiting sentencing and will not appear at Tuesday’s hearing.
They were originally set to be sentenced in July, but this was postponed to August 24 and 25 due to a scheduling conflict for one of the lawyers involved. It will be a two-day sentencing due to the large number of victims who will likely read their impact statements to the court.
Two jointly accused men – one of whom was acquitted on a charge of sexual violation and another who was acquitted on all but a minor drug supply charge – will argue to have their names permanently suppressed at a hearing in July.
