Chef Matai Kavana’s indecent assault trial aborted, reason suppressed
Warning: This story contains allegations of indecent assault
After hearing from young women who claim they were indecently assaulted by chef Matai Kavana, along with evidence from staff at the club where they worked, his trial has been aborted.
Kavana, 36, was on trial this week on eight counts of indecent assault relating to three young women he worked with in a club restaurant.
On Tuesday, the district court heard from the first woman, who said Kavana made inappropriate comments at work.
She alleged that on two occasions, while appearing to move behind her, he grabbed her hips and thrust his pelvis against her buttocks.
One time, she said, she felt what she believed was his erection.
Yesterday, the court heard from the other two young women, who also described alleged inappropriate sexual comments made by Kavana and incidents of indecent assault.
Two former co-workers of Kavana also gave evidence yesterday, and another Crown witness began giving evidence this morning.
During that witness’s evidence, proceedings came to a halt, and Judge Edwin Paul subsequently aborted the trial.
He has suppressed the reasons why.
“Suffice to say they are good reasons,” the judge told the jury before releasing them.
A court date has been set for next month to discuss a retrial.
Ella Scott-Fleming has been a journalist for three years and previously worked at the Otago Daily Times, Gore Ensign and Metro Magazine. She has an interest in court and general reporting. She’s currently based in Auckland covering justice-related stories.
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