Police interviews with Roberto Jaz, who was found guilty of 69 charges related to the drugging and sexual assault of more than 20 women.
Video / NZ Police
WARNING: Distressing content
Mama Hooch rapist Roberto Jaz told police in an interview that he could not remember drugging and sexually assaulting a teen who was out celebrating her 18th birthday - and questioned whether his memory blanks may have been due to his own drink being spiked.
He also claimed the other woman he violated that night “started it” and he “thought it was consensual” and “kind of felt bad” that she didn’t feel the same.
Yesterday, a five-year suppression was lifted exposing Roberto Jaz and his brother Danny Jaz as the prolific sexual predators responsible for a raft of offending against women at central Christchurch bar Mama Hooch.
The Sydney-born siblings are facing up to 20 years each in prison for a total of 69 charges including rape, sexual violation, indecent assault, stupefying, disabling, making intimate recordings of women without their knowledge or consent and supplying illicit drugs.
Danny Jaz (L) and Roberto Jaz have been convicted of rape and a raft of other charges relating to the drugging and sexual assault of women at their family bar and restaurant Mama Hooch and Venuti in Christchurch. Photo / Pool
Their names have been suppressed since their arrests in 2018 but a High Court judge yesterday ruled there was no further reason for secrecy and their identities could be revealed.
Danny Jaz, 40, was the bar manager at Mama Hooch and Roberto Jaz, 38, was the chef at nearby restaurant Venuti.
Both venues have been shut down since the men were charged.
Today the Herald can also publish footage of the police interview with Roberto Jaz in 2018 - the day after two 18-year-old Mama Hooch patrons reported they had been drugged and sexually assaulted by the much older man at Venuti.
The interview was played during the brothers’ lengthy trial in the Christchurch District Court before Judge Paul Mabey.
In the video, Roberto Jaz outlines his movements from the night before and answers questions from Detective Roger Carran.
He initially denied any connection to the young women - who the Herald has anonymised as Penny and Katherine - but eventually confesses he took one of them to Venuti so she could use the bathroom, given the queues at Mama Hooch were long.
After a drink or two he claimed Katherine started to “grope” him and kiss him and they had a “consensual” sexual interaction.
“I mean, if you can keep this confidential, she sort of said to me she likes me,” Roberto Jaz boasted to Carran.
“She’s attracted to me.”
He denied any knowledge of Penny being there.
“To be honest … I had been drinking so … I have, have a vague memory of what happened,” he said.
“You know, I remember bits and pieces, I mean, obviously it stacks up … but, obviously I’ve been drinking, I must’ve been a bit … probably heavily intoxicated.
“I could’ve potentially had something put in my drink … which has made [me] sort of lose memory.”
“It felt right, you know, consensual” - Roberto Jaz claims victim “started” it
Roberto Jaz denied he’d used any drugs that night and was adamant he had not given the young women anything at Venuti.
Carran put to him: “Two separate girls have come in … saying that you or a male identifying himself as you … has supplied … a white powder. What do you have to say about that?
“I’ve got no knowledge of that, no … Definitely not me,” Roberto Jaz lied in response.
“Why do you think two people would come and tell us that?” Carran pressed.
“I have got literally no idea. This is what I’m trying to establish as well,” Roberto Jaz replied.
He then pointed out a scratch on his neck and told Carran that Katherine had done that to him.
“She began to kiss me, and stuff … I got this mark on my neck from her … which I, I didn’t think too much of, but then she was like, “Oh, I got to go, I got to go”, and then she left.
“I was just like, “Are you all right? Do you need a taxi or anything?” And then she had left.”
Rapist brothers Danny (centre) and Roberto (right) Jaz at the bar Mama Hooch where they drink spiked and sexually assaulted women. Photo / Facebook
Roberto Jaz claimed to be “a bit confused” that Katherine had told police there had been an assault.
He denied being violent and maintained she was a willing participant.
“It felt right, you know, consensual,” he told Carran.
“What’s actually shocked me … ‘cos if the other girl was there I would’ve noticed her, you know, unless she just came in behind us and I’ve not seen her? I didn’t turn the lights on,” Roberto Jaz said.
Later in the interview he again poses that his own drink may have been spiked - which would “explain” the gaps in his recollection.
“But who would be spiking your drinks? I mean, this is a bar your family owns, and drinks at,” said Carran.
“Yeah, but the thing is, the thing is if I’m, if I’m drinking a drink … and occasionally if I’ve stopped and I’ve probably gone to pick up some glasses or something to help out, you know …
“And then I’ve gone back to my drink, you know, is it a possibility that my drink could’ve had something in it?”
I did not consent - the tale of two brave teenagers
During the trial, Katherine and Penny - whose complaint sparked Operation Sinatra which put an end to the Jaz brother’s monstrous spate of sexual offending - gave their version of events.
Judge Mabey - who also saw their evidential police interview footage - believed them.
Wholly, and entirely.
Danny Jaz behind the bar at Mama Hooch with former Prime Minister Sir John Key and staff. Photo / Facebook
The court heard that the night before the women were attacked, they started their evening with dinner and a shared bottle of wine with a friend at Venuti.
Penny had turned 18 that week and the girls were out to celebrate.
During the night they had a wine or two and shared a dose of MDMA between them. They were coherent and functioning.
They parted for a while as Penny went to a gig at another bar, but united at Mama Hooch later in the night.
As soon as they snorted it they knew something was very, very wrong.
It was unlike anything they had taken before - their vision blurred and blacked out, their nose and throat burned, and they felt like they had no control over their bodies, that they were “underwater”.
“I can’t see,” Penny screamed at Katherine, who was “blanking in and out”.
I kept trying to say ‘stop, no’ - a victim’s ordeal
The rest of their ordeal comes in terrifying shards of memory.
Katherine:
“I remember him being on top of me in the back of the restaurant … He was so strong and I couldn’t move … he kept on putting his hand on my face and trying to kiss me … I also remember I must have been trying to get away and trying to walk and I couldn’t walk.
“I’d be on the ground and he’d come over and pull my hair … I remember him biting my back … the whole time I was so scared, I didn’t know what to do.
“He had all the control, he was so strong … and I couldn’t get away … I was scared and (Penny) was scared too and whatever was happening was really dangerous.
“It was like being in water … my ears were ringing and I couldn’t see, I just felt really confused. I had no idea what was going on.
“I just remember trying to move … I kept on trying to say ‘stop, no’.”
“It just felt like it was going on forever. He was persistent in not doing as I wished … I could hear crashing and glasses breaking from trying to move away …
“It was almost like sleep paralysis like I was in and out, semi-coherent … aware of what was happening but I couldn’t do anything to get away from that space because my body wouldn’t allow me to.”
“As soon as I took it it started to burn … I was in agonising pain … we were trying to help each other to walk and we were screaming at him ‘what did you give us’… we were screaming at him to f*** off, to not come near us.
“Katherine was just rolling around on the ground talking to herself, and then I remember him on top of me … he was grinding against me … I just kept blacking out.
“I remember him pulling Katherine round by her hair … I went to the bathroom to get away from him … after we took the drug, I didn’t feel safe around him. I couldn’t look after myself, I could hardly stand.
“I kept saying f*** you, what did you give me … I remember him biting me, a lot. I remember being in pain a lot and him just biting me on my lip, somewhere on my face, my hand my fingers, and tugging my hair quite a lot.
“I remember seeing (Katherine) unconscious and I remember seeing him kissing her from her face to her body … her telling him to f*** off, telling him she has a boyfriend, telling him this isn’t right and he just kept telling her to shut up.
“I was just watching when I could open up my eyes, I was seeing parts of what was happening ... Her slapping him in the face, she got really angry but then she would pass out again. He was constantly pulling her hair really hard. She slapped him a few times … then she’d pass out again.”
At some point, Penny managed to get out of Venuti.
She went and got in her car and drove to a friend’s house.
She explained in court that she was in no state to drive and hoped like hell she would get pulled over or crash and that would trigger police and she could tell them about what had happened.
Roberto and Danny Jaz are brothers and convicted rapists. Photo / Facebook
Katherine remained with Roberto, who led her around the block to Calendar Girls.
She had tried to call her boyfriend and get him to pick her up but her phone had died. She knew a girl who worked at the club and thought if she could just get there she would be safe.
Footage at the club shows Katherine unable to sit still, flicking her hair around, constantly moving and touching her face, rolling her head from side to side.
She remembers none of it.
‘He was so close to raping you - you said NO’
Text messages between Katherine and Penny the day after the attack were also presented in court as evidence.
They chatted briefly about the night before - their memory blanks, the worry about what they had ingested, and the fear of what may have happened to them.
Katherine: “Can you please tell me everything he did and tried to do.”
Penny: “I saw him on top of you, you were semi-passed out, he kept grabbing your face so he could kiss you or if you walked he would grab you. I was so high I was trying to stop it but I couldn’t and he did to me too. I didn’t know what to do.”
Katherine: “That makes me feel sick … did he actually do anything to me?”
Penny: “He actually hooked up with you … you said no … he was so close to raping you … You got away. You hit him. He tried again.”
Katherine: “OK, I don’t know what to do. I feel disgusting”.
Penny: “I feel disgusting. I’m going to the hospital now cos I’m so high and I’m so sick. I’m just getting a drug test and getting some meds I don’t want this reported.”
By 7pm that night, Penny felt differently and was ready to involve the police. She’d spent most of the day at an emergency medical clinic and had been put on a drip because she was in such a bad way.
Penny: “Katherine, they said this is really serious, they want us to involve the cops. I’m so sick … Is this ok that the police get involved? All the doctors looking after me and nurses said this is one of the really bad assaults.”
Penny: “I know it was a sexual assault ... no one has the right to use these harsh drugs and try have sex with him while we are passing out - you were even hitting him to stop and yelling stop. What he did was so f***ed up, they said it was one of the worse cases they have had in a while.”
Medical staff reported the matter to the police, with Penny’s consent, that night.
By 10pm, officers were at Katherine’s house to speak to her.
“That’s when it hit me, that’s when I started to come to terms with what had actually happened,” Katherine told the court.
