Muchirahondo was found guilty of 17 counts of rape and sexual assault

John Hope Muchirahondo was found guilty of 17 counts of rape and sexual assault.

The 38-year-old Christchurch man was convicted of raping eight women and sexually assaulting a ninth.

In addition to the 17 sexual offense charges, he was also found guilty of one count of failing to provide access to a cell phone.

The offense occurred in Christchurch and Auckland and lasted from 2011 to 2021.

On Monday afternoon the jury returned their verdicts after their tenth day of deliberations in the High Court in Christchurch.

Muchirahondo was found not guilty on eight counts of sexual offenses and the jury was unable to reach a verdict on five other counts.

The verdicts end the two-month trial involving 15 plaintiffs.

Muchirahondo showed no emotion as the verdicts were read.

Judge Lisa Preston remanded him in custody to be sentenced in December.

She thanked the jury and said they had had to listen to extraordinarily difficult evidence.

In a statement, Detective Inspector Nicola Reeves said she recognized Muchirahondo’s conviction on 17 counts.

“I would like to acknowledge the great courage and strength shown by the many complainants in this case. Sharing their experiences with the police and throughout the court process required determination and courage.”

“Her memories have been attacked and an attempt has been made to discredit her account. They persevered through the challenges and their voices were heard.”

“They should be incredibly proud of their actions and I hope these sentences bring some measure of peace and closure.”

Reeves also thanked the work of prosecutors and the jury for their “careful attention and guidance throughout this trial.”

“I encourage anyone who needs advice or wants to report a sexual assault to contact the police.”

The Crown case

The Crown said Muchirahondo preyed on vulnerable women who often drank too much and were unable to consent or woke up to find he was having sex with them.

Crown prosecutor William Taffs told the court Muchirahondo was accused of sexually assaulting 15 women, including women with whom he had a relationship or who considered him a friend and some who met him on a night out on the town.

Taffs said that in some cases, Muchirahondo had sex with women while they were so drunk that they vomited or were unconscious.

“In other cases, you will hear them waking up and finding Mr. Muchirahondo inside of them,” Taffs said, “and losing consciousness and losing consciousness again, and once him telling them to go back to sleep.”

Taffs said some of the complainants said they were pressured or forced to have sex with Muchirahondo.

The indictment spanned from 2009 to 2021.

The police investigation was sparked by a woman who met Muchirahondo in February 2021 during a night on the town with her friend, where she was heavily drunk.

At the end of the night they took a taxi together to what was supposed to be her home, but she ended up at his place.

The woman said she was raped by a man while she was passed out on the couch, and that man was Muchirahondo.

Crown prosecutor Claire Boshier said Muchirahondo was a man who disregarded the concept of consent.

“What the other party wants or what state they are in is irrelevant to him. He just doesn’t care. He focuses on what he wants,” she said.

Boshier said many of the complainants were under the influence of alcohol and the jury would have noted that the women were often heavily intoxicated, but Muchirahondo was not.

“Normally you might think that the sober person is the one you can rely on to take care of the others who have been drinking, to get people home safely. In this case, one might think that Mr. Muchirahondo’s sobriety was the opposite – it was predatory.”

The defense case

Anselm Williams, Muchirahondo’s defense attorney, said Muchirahondo admitted to having sex with many of the women, but said he always gave his consent or had reasonable grounds to believe he gave that consent.

In two of the cases, Williams said Muchirahondo did not have sex with the women and it was a case of mistaken identity.

Williams said memory was a central theme in the case, with many of the women piecing together events from a drunken evening and, in some cases, from years ago.

He said the woman whose complaint sparked the investigation into Muchirahondo in 2021 told the court that it was definitely Muchirahondo who sexually assaulted her after a night of drinking.

But Williams said the day she reported the crime, the woman said she didn’t know who attacked her and described a man with different hair and clothes than Muchirahondo.

She did not remember kissing Muchirahondo on a nightclub dance floor, although video evidence confirmed this.

“She had significant problems with her memory that night,” Williams said, “including events such as the kiss, which would likely be clearly remembered. After the incident, we know she spoke to her friend and tried to piece it all together. And when she came.” In court she was confident that the person, who she could not immediately identify afterwards, was Mr Muchirahondo.

He said the jury would have to consider the factors that may have played a role in creating false memories for the complainants.

“The police were actively looking for complainants, they described witnesses to Mr Muchirahondo, they told the complainants that it was an extensive investigation, that there were a lot of complainants and a lot of people were saying similar things.”

Williams said in the cases where Muchirahondo had a relationship with the complainants, the women were now recreating consensual sexual encounters based on collusion with other complainants or hostility toward his client.

He said Muchirahondo was persistent during sex, and one complainant described him convincing her to have sex.

“He does this with words, with body movements, rather than being physically violent or forceful. In cases like this you have to be really careful not to equate persistence and selfishness with guilt.”

Williams said Muchirahondo grew up in Zimbabwe until young adulthood, growing up in an area with more traditional gender roles and different attitudes toward sex.

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