logo
Mama Hooch rapist brothers Danny and Roberto Jaz challenge their convictions and sentences

Mama Hooch rapist brothers Danny and Roberto Jaz challenge their convictions and sentences

RNZ News3 days ago
Danny (left) and Roberto Jaz were convicted in 2023 of drugging and violating more than 20 women.
Photo:
NZ Herald / George Heard
Two Christchurch brothers who used their family's bar and restaurant to drug and rape young women are challenging their convictions and sentences
Danny and Roberto Jaz were convicted in 2023 of drugging and violating more than 20 women at the bar Mama Hooch and neighbouring restaurant Venuti between 2015 and 2018.
A High Court appeal was heard by Justice Cameron Mander at Christchurch on Monday, but reporting of the matter was suppressed until 4pm on Tuesday as well as the reasons for that suppression.
Roberto Jaz was jailed for 17 years, and his older brother Danny was jailed for 16-and-a-half years in August 2023 by Judge Paul Mabey, who described their attacks as predatory and heartless.
The pair accumulated almost
70 convictions between them
for sexual violation, drink spiking, stupefying and making an intimate visual recording.
Judge Mabey imposed non-parole periods of half their sentences.
A month later the brothers
lodged appeals against their convictions and sentences
.
RNZ is now able to report on that High Court hearing.
Jaz brothers' lawyers Ron Mansfield KC (left) and James Carruthers.
Photo:
Stuff/Chris Skelton
Lawyer for the Jaz brothers Ron Mansfield KC told the court his clients did not get a fair hearing in the District Court and there was a significant miscarriage of justice.
"There is a significant and concerning danger and, in my submission, an obvious one in putting apparent efficiency of process over and above the interests of justice and standard principles of natural justice in any case, let alone one as serious as this one. That is what the appellants submit that this judge has done," he said.
The trial was complex and involved a substantial number of charges and complainants alleging very serious offending, Mansfield said.
"In effect, the judge simplistically ran roughshod over the defence cases in relation to each grouping of charges. Beyond that he failed to consider all relevant evidence relating to identified charges resulting independently in miscarriages of justice in relation to those specific charges."
Lawyer for the Crown Charlotte Brook said there was a wealth of evidence against the Jaz brothers and disputed Mansfield's claims of complexity or a miscarriage of justice.
"They had access to drugs, their positions at the bar meant they had access to the drinks being served, they were well known for handing out free drinks at the bar, which a number of witnesses said sometimes tasted awful and they didn't want to drink them. There was the internal propensity evidence - the sheer number of victims who the Crown alleged to have been stupefied suggests that the appellants had a propensity to do so," she said.
There was also the evidence of the brothers' own statements to each other in their group chats and to others, where they talked openly about administering drugs to people, Brook said.
"Their description of their preferred drug as 'bitter water' is consistent with the evidence of witnesses who said that sometimes they'd be given a free drink and it would taste so horrible, so bitter that they didn't want to drink it," she said.
Lawyers for the Crown Andrew McRae (left) and Charlotte Brook.
Photo:
Stuff/Chris Skelton
Mansfield argued the judge oversimplified points and failed to consider others, an example being the evidence complainants gave alleging they were drugged.
"There was a lot more to this case than the judge considered applicable when he came to looking at the issues, such as whether the complainants were stupefied, or somehow rendered, so they that could not consent to some sexual assault," he said.
Many of the complainants acknowledged they had consumed substantial quantities of alcohol either prior to going to the premises or while at the premises, and in some cases had used controlled drugs too, Mansfield said.
"When the witnesses said in the lower court that 'look I've been drunk before' or 'I've used drugs before and this wasn't like any of those occasions' the judge would simply say and he said it a number of times: 'the answer is the evidence'. What he didn't do was really query that response in light of the alcohol and or controlled drugs that they'd actually consumed against their age, weight and relative inexperience with consumption of both at that particular time, let alone the realities of both alcohol and drug consumption," he said.
Brook disputed Mansfield's characterisation the trial was complex or there was a miscarriage of justice.
"Of course it was serious, of course it was long, but the Crown says that doesn't necessarily mean it was complex. None of the charges were genuinely novel or complex in and of themselves... most charges were able to be dealt with quite briefly only a couple of paragraphs," she said.
Mansfield said the trial judge also erred in not allowing closing arguments, rendering the trial unfair.
"In my submission really it was the opportunity that all parties required in the District Court, that's the prosecution and defence, to a greater extent the defence... the only opportunity to present the defendants' case in relation to each grouping of charges was by way of the closing addresses," he said.
Justice Mander reserved his decision.
Jaz brothers' lawyer Ron Mansfield KC.
Photo:
Stuff/Chris McKeen
Police began investigating the Jaz brothers in July 2018 after two women reported being drugged and sexually assaulted at the venues.
At a judge-alone trial in 2023, the men were convicted of 69 charges relating to 23 victims, mostly women aged 18 to 24.
The sentences brought an end to five years of complex and detailed investigation work and a drawn-out prosecution process.
Survivors told the brothers during sentencing that their crimes had left them
feeling damaged, fearful and forever changed
.
Lead investigator Detective Inspector Scott Anderson praised the victims for coming forward and seeing the protracted process through.
"Their journey through the process has not been easy, however, because of their courage they have made our community a safer place," he said.
Anderson said the men had preyed on their victims in a disturbing way.
"One of their sole purposes was actually using the bar for their own gratification and servicing what they thought was quite all right for them, which it obviously wasn't," he said.
"It just goes to show how premeditated they were in targeting vulnerable people, in particular young girls, to do what they wanted with."
The Jaz brothers' father Michael Jaz owned both Mama Hooch and Venuti. Both venues have since closed and the company Jaz Holdings Limited was
put into liquidation in August 2023
.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Watch: NZ man sentenced for drunken assault during Perth-Auckland flight
Watch: NZ man sentenced for drunken assault during Perth-Auckland flight

RNZ News

time4 hours ago

  • RNZ News

Watch: NZ man sentenced for drunken assault during Perth-Auckland flight

A New Zealand man has been sentenced for drunkenly assaulting two airline crew on a flight from Perth to Auckland. His actions resulted in the plane being diverted to Melbourne. This week, the 23-year-old was sentenced by the County Court of Victoria to six months' imprisonment, to be released immediately on a two-year good behaviour bond. He was also ordered to pay the airline $10,824 (NZ$11,834) in compensation. Australian Federal Police were called to reports of an intoxicated and disruptive passenger on 23 October, 2024. The man refused to comply with requests from two crew members and assaulted both, causing minor injuries. Police said officers boarded the plane once it landed at Melbourne Aircraft and removed the passenger, who had been restrained at the back of the aircraft. He pleaded guilty on 17 April, 2025, to two counts of assaulting crew of an aircraft. Detective Superintendent Stephen Cook said airline staff deserved to feel safe in their workplace and not be subjected to violence and aggression from passengers . "Anti-social behaviour during a flight can pose a direct threat to the safety of the aircraft, and in this instance, also inconvenience passengers onboard," he said. "The AFP works closely with the airline industry to intervene if anyone's behaviour interferes with the safety of workers or the public in or around an airport, or on flights." Officers boarded the plane once it landed at Melbourne Aircraft and removed the passenger, who had been restrained at the back of the aircraft. Photo: Supplied / Australian Federal Police Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

Search underway for elderly woman missing from Bishopdale, Christchurch
Search underway for elderly woman missing from Bishopdale, Christchurch

RNZ News

time6 hours ago

  • RNZ News

Search underway for elderly woman missing from Bishopdale, Christchurch

Beryl is missing from the Christchurch suburb of Bishopdale. Photo: Supplied / NZ Police A search is underway for a 79-year-old who was reported missing in the Christchurch suburb of Bishopdale on Thursday afternoon. Police said that the woman named Beryl had a medical condition and that officers and her family were concerned for her well-being. She was last seen wearing a grey or light green hoodie and dark blue trackpants. Anyone who has any information on her whereabouts is urged to call police on 105. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

Man fined $400 for harassing sea lion in the Catlins
Man fined $400 for harassing sea lion in the Catlins

RNZ News

time9 hours ago

  • RNZ News

Man fined $400 for harassing sea lion in the Catlins

A sea lion at Surat Bay Beach in the Catlins. Photo: RNZ/Peter de Graaf A Southland man has been fined $400 for harassing a sea lion in an incident that appalled nature lovers in the Catlins earlier this year. In January, residents of Tautuku Beach, on the south Otago coast, reported seeing a group of motorists and trail bike riders taunting a sea lion for two successive days. A ranger's report obtained by RNZ stated a ute was repeatedly driven at the sea lion, with the driver using the clutch and brakes to "lunge" towards the animal and provoke it into responding. Riders were also seen driving in circles around the sea lion. At the time the Department of Conservation (DOC) said it was making enquiries after being provided with a vehicle's licence plate details. This week DOC Murihiku operations manager John McCarroll told RNZ a Southland man had since admitted to his involvement in the Tautuku Beach incident. "After speaking to this person and a neutral witness, we are satisfied that there was no contact with the sea lion at any stage, nor were there "doughnuts" performed around the sea lion on the vehicle's departure," he said. "After legal review, a $400 infringement notice was issued to the offender for disturbing a sea lion, in breach of the Marine Mammals Protection Act 1978." The incident led to calls - including by outgoing mayor Brian Cadogan - to reconsider banning vehicles from Catlins beaches. A ban was proposed by the Clutha District Council in 2023 but dropped following a social media backlash. Councillors will now revisit the issue after the October local elections. The Tautuku Beach incident is only one of many involving endangered sea lions in the Catlins, a stretch of coast renowned for its wildlife. Tautuku Bay in the Catlins, which some locals told RNZ was "treated like a racetrack" by four-wheel-drive enthusiasts. Photo: RNZ/Peter de Graaf In October last year a female known as Jade was shot, followed by her pup a few days later. The pup was left to a lingering death in the Catlins Estuary. In November a third sea lion was stabbed on Waipati Beach and had to be euthanised. That prompted the New Zealand Sea Lion Trust to double its reward for information about the killings to $12,000. The initial report about the Tautuku Beach incident stated the motorists had left by the time rangers arrived and the sea lion was dead. However, a necroscopy found the animal died of other causes, most likely from injuries inflicted by another sea lion. It could also not be confirmed whether the dead sea lion was the same one that was being harassed earlier. Only about 12,000 New Zealand sea lions remain, making it the world's rarest sea lion species.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store