Danny Jaz (L) and Roberto Jaz face years behind bars for their offending. Photo / NZME
WARNING: Distressing content.
The rapists convicted in the Mama Hooch case were fixated on sex and how they could get it.
This is according to senior crime journalist Anna Leask who called the case of Roberto and Danny Jaz the worst of its kind that she’s seen in her decades of reporting.
“Every sex crime is serious and I would never want to minimise it… but what was terrifying and horrible about this, and made it probably the worst I’ve seen in 20 years, is just the indifference to consent,” she told The Front Page podcast.
“These guys were determined. They just kept going and going, and if a woman wasn’t interested, they didn’t care. They just wanted what they wanted and they bragged about it.”
The pair were ultimately convicted of dozens of crimes and will over the next two days face a sentencing trial to determine how long they are to spend in prison.
“Rapes carries a maximum penalty of 20 years, and I understand that the Crown are going to be asking for something in the mid-teens. A starting point of 15 years will be sought… Rape is the lead sentence so that is the maximum amount they’ll serve.”
Leask believes the pair aren’t likely to be given much leniency by the presiding officer, simply because the nature of the offending was so grotesque.
“When you look at how they ran Mama Hooch, it was complete predatory behaviour. They were living a fantasy where they thought they could do whatever they liked with whoever fell in front of them.”
For more details on how these two criminals were caught and eventually convicted, listen to the full episode of The Front Page.
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. It is presented by Damien Venuto, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in business reporting who joined the Herald in 2017.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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