Convicted hip-hop producers' second shot at appeal quashed

Peter Chambers (left) and Mark Arona had a second attempt to appeal their charges dismissed today. Photo / File

Two well-known hip hop producers have had their second attempt to quash their convictions for the rape of a woman in a Tauranga motel rejected today.

Mark Arona and Peter Chambers, both in their 40s, were jailed for eight-and-a-half years in January 2017 after being found guilty by a jury of sexual violation and rape.

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

After their bid to appeal the convictions in the Court of Appeal last October failed, the pair took the case to the Supreme Court.

Chambers and Arona said they should have been allowed to present evidence at the trial about the complainant's previous sexual history.

The pair also argued that she may have exaggerated the extent of her intoxication on that occasion.

The Court of Appeal accepted there might have been some relevance in the evidence of an incident in the complainant's sexual history, but did not consider it would be helpful.

This was because there had been no complaint about sexual violation in that incidence.

In a ruling released today, the Supreme Court ruled that nothing raised by the applicants suggested the Court of Appeal was wrong in its analysis of the issues.

"As we understand it, the Crown case was that this complainant did not consent. It was not that no one would consent to such activity," the judgment read.

The application was dismissed.