Warning: Some people may find details in this story distressing.
The identity of the ‘third man’ in the Mama Hooch drink spiking case in Christchurch can never be revealed following a final suppression order yesterday.
The 38-year-old was accused of drugging women alongside the two rapists who worked at Mama Hooch, Danny and Roberto Jaz, and faced trial alongside them in February and March this year.
However, while Danny and Roberto were found guilty of preying on more than 20 women between 2015 and 2018, the third man managed to exonerate himself almost entirely.
He successfully defended 11 of the 12 charges he faced, beating charges of stupefying, sexual violation, making an intimate recording and rape.
During the trial, the judge was shown video of the man having sex with a young woman. Prosecutors claimed the man raped the bar patron in a horrific group incident alongside Roberto Jaz, where the victim went in-and-out of consciousness.
Roberto Jaz was found guilty of drugging and raping the woman, but the other man was cleared. Judge Paul Mabey KC is yet to give his reasons for that decision. However, in court yesterday, he indicated the acquittal was given because the prosecution had not proved beyond reasonable doubt that the man was aware the woman was not consenting.
The judge's full reasons are expected to be delivered next week, but part of the decision was linked to comments the woman had made during the sexual interaction, encouraging the men to continue - the point being that if the man was not aware the woman was drugged, then he would interpret those comments as consent.
In all, Judge Mabey KC found the man not guilty on 11 charges and today discharged him without conviction on the 12th charge for offering to supply a Class B drug to a woman, saying it was "hard to imagine a lower level of offending of this type".
"A small amount of drug was offered in a bar where the evidence has clearly established that drugs were regularly consumed in the toilets, were shared by people at the bar, were offered and received by people at the bar,” Judge Mabey said.
The judge added that publishing of his name would cause him "extreme hardship".
"There is no need to burden him and those connected with him by publishing his name, open justice principles apply, there is a presumption of favour of publicity, but in this case the presumption is well and truly overcome by justice principles," he said.
Man's texts exposed
Text messages show the man regularly communicated with Danny and Roberto Jaz, who ran the infamous drink spiking ring at Mama Hooch in Christchurch between 2015 and 2018.
At trial in February, prosecutors proved Danny and Roberto had drugged 17 women and sexually assaulted the same number at night spots Mama Hooch and Venuti.
The two men are brothers, who worked at Mama Hooch and Venuti in different capacities. They either spiked drinks or provided powder to women before taking advantage of them, and were eventually convicted on 68 of the 113 charges they faced at trial.
Victims described terrifying scenes, saying they blacked out or faded in-and-out of consciousness amid depraved sexual assaults.
Read more: 'I think I was drink spiked at Mama Hooch'
Police seized the men’s phones during the investigation, uncovering thousands of messages in Whatsapp group chats.
In the chat logs, seized by police, Danny and Roberto Jaz make references to drugs and regularly shared images of women working at the bar, with comments like “new waitress boys, who wants it”.
The ‘third man’ often joins in with the objectification of patrons and waitresses.
On multiple occasions, this man made it clear he also saw the women as potential sexual conquests.
In other examples, his comments went beyond objectification and referenced drugs.
When Roberto shared a picture of a white powder in lines on a bench in August 2015, the man wrote “sort some out for when I come”.
At another point that same year, when Roberto Jaz messaged saying he had “roofied” a woman’s drink, the man joked “did you buy her a roofiecolada”?
Rape charge: How did the man walk free?
The most serious charge the man faced was the alleged rape of a Mama Hooch patron in 2017.
Police laid the charge after discovering a graphic video that showed Roberto Jaz and the man having group sex with a young woman at the same time.
At trial in February, the judge heard the 21-year-old had been on a night out, and had consumed alcohol with her friends, before Roberto Jaz gave her a drink at the bar.
She described feeling “completely gone” after the drink and claimed Danny Jaz walked her to the empty Venuti restaurant down the street.
In her evidence, the woman said Roberto Jaz was at the venue, and gave her a white substance of some sort in the back of the restaurant.
She consumed it, before suffering significant memory blanks.
“I was not in any state to even stop what was going on,” she told police at the time.
Read more: 'Every chance' there could be more Mama Hooch victims, police say
In the video taken that night, Roberto Jaz and the ‘third man’ can be seen having sex with the woman.
The footage is taken by Roberto Jaz and features both men engaging in sexual acts with the young woman while she is drugged. Roberto kept it afterwards in what prosecutors described as a “trophy”.
While it’s not known what drug was used, the trial heard evidence that certain substances, such as MDMA, can alter the mind of a person, changing their personality and reducing their inhibitions.
In this case, the video showed the woman was participating – at times giving the men verbal cues to continue.
At some points she was unable to keep her eyes open, at others she was unable to stand.
Roberto Jaz was convicted of drugging and raping the woman. But despite being filmed having sex with her at the same time, the man was found not guilty for this charge.
In court yesterday Judge Mabey said "[The man] had nothing to do with the drugging of that complainant".
"[The man] said to the police that he considered everything was consensual, [and] had in my view clear and reasonable grounds for that belief and the Crown could not exclude it."
Roberto, by contrast, had drugged the woman and so was aware she was not consenting.
In a police interview in 2018, the man claimed the interaction was “110%” consensual.
“Unconsensual is when you force someone, I believe, to do things that they don’t like to,” he told the officer.
“This is nothing like that, I never have the need to force anyone.”
The 38-year-old sobbed when the verdicts were read out in court in April, with the Jaz brothers – who were in the process of being convicted – sat either side of him in the dock, stone-faced.
While the others are likely to receiving lengthy prison sentences in August, the man walked out of court yesterday free, with no conviction.
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