Tauranga rapists' victim left a 'broken mess'

Convicted rapists Peter Chambers, (left) and Mark Arona were sentenced in the Tauranga District Court today via audio visual link from prison. Photo/File

A woman raped in a Tauranga motel room by two well-known Kiwi music producers
says despite their 8-1/2 years' prison sentence she feels like a "broken mess".

The woman has spoken out after her abusers, Peter Chambers, 42, and Mark Arona, 40, were sentenced by Judge David Cameron in the Tauranga District Court today.

The pair, both hip hop music industry identities, were found guilty of one charge each of sexual violation by rape and sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection by a jury after a nine-day trial in Tauranga in October.

Chambers was found guilty of being the principal offender in the rape charge and Arona as a party to it by encouraging the offence.

However, during sentencing, the pair insisted through their lawyers the sexual encounters were consensual.

Speaking to the Bay of Plenty Times after the sentencing hearing, the woman, who cannot be legally identified, said she wanted the pair to admit what they had done and hoped her decision to speak up would help others in similar situations.

"Lots of people are feeling happy about the sentence these men received. But I just feel like a broken mess as, despite their denials, this still happened to me," the woman said.

"It's something I will have to live with for the rest of my life.

"Once the trial was over I tried to put this all into a jar and close the lid forever, but now it feels like the jar has been opened again and it's all come flooding back to me," she said.

"I can't be happy until these men admit what they did to me and apologise."

The woman said if her decision to speak up encouraged even one person to come forward and testify against their abusers it would help her with the healing process.

During the trial the complainant gave evidence that after having too much to drink and taking a puff from a cannabis joint, she blacked out.

Her next memory was waking up naked in a Tauranga motel room with Chambers violating her and Arona then joined in, she told the jury.

She was powerless to resist her abusers and "felt like a rag doll", she said.

During the sentencing, Crown prosecutor Nathan Batts described the offending as akin to a gang-rape, as the men had encouraged each other to violate the vulnerable victim.

Batts said the fact she was incapacitated was a "serious aggravating factor".

But the men's lawyers told Judge Cameron their clients maintained their innocence and insisted the complainant was the one who initiated the sexual relations.

Chambers' lawyer Moana Dorset and Rebekah Webby, acting for Arona, urged Judge Cameron to take into account their clients otherwise untarnished reputations.

The men were "highly respected", particularly within the NZ hip hop music scene, and both had made significant contributions to the community over many years.

Chambers, who had no prior convictions had lost everything he had worked hard to attain over more than 20 years, which was something he could never get back, Dorset said.

Webby said Arona, who had three prior driving convictions, claimed the victim had ample opportunity to leave at any time that night.

Both lawyers rejected the suggestion this offending was akin to a gang rape.

Convicted rapists Peter Chambers (left) and Mark Arona sentenced in Tauranga District Court today. Photo/Andrew Warner.

Judge Cameron also rejected the Crown's proposition.

However, the victim's evidence was "very clear" that each defendant encouraged the other to offend and that was implicit in the jury's unanimous verdicts.

Judge Cameron said Arona and Chambers were equally culpable and 8-1/2 years' prison for each was warranted.

Arona, who was chief executive of the independent record label and entertainment company Illegal Musk, is also known as MC Patriarch of the hip-hop group Ill Semantics.

Chambers, aka DJ CXL, was also a member of Ill Semantics, taught music to young people and mentored up-and-coming artists.

Illegal Musk is behind some of New Zealand's biggest names in the hip-hop music scene.