Kazuya Restaurant chef and owner Kazuya Yamauchi.
An award-winning Auckland chef and restaurateur has been convicted of filming a young woman undressing in the bathroom of his home.
Kazuya Restaurant owner Kazuya Yamauchi was sentenced at Auckland District Court today, after he admitted intentionally making an intimate visual recording of another person.
Judge Eddie Paul said the victim was a 20-year-old Japanese woman who was in New Zealand on a working visa.
“The victim was renting a room of your address in Mt Eden, where you live with your wife and your son.”
The 47-year-old hid his phone inside a sponge in the shared bathroom of the house in an attempt to video the woman getting undressed in August last year.
“Just before the victim walked into the bathroom to take a shower, you put your phone in video recording mode and placed it on the shelf immediately outside the shower booth with the intention to intimately film the victim,” Judge Paul said.
“After getting undressed in the bathroom, the victim discovered the defendant’s mobile phone, which was concealed in a black sponge.”
The victim checked the recording, which had captured her getting changed as well as Yamauchi placing the phone on the shelf.
The woman confronted Yamauchi, who apologised and then destroyed and disposed of his phone. She reported the incident to police.
“Clearly, the offending is intrusive and a breach of trust. The victim was effectively a guest in your home, and she was entitled to expect that her privacy would be protected.
Yamauchi admitted to police he had recorded the woman “in order to fulfil his sexual desire”, Judge Paul said.
“You also attributed the surface-level relationship with your wife.”
Yamuchi’s lawyer said he had made amends with his spouse following the revelation of the offence, and was worried about the impact the charges would have on his business and child.
Kazuya Restaurant was named New Zealand’s Best Restaurant in 2022 and was nominated for the same award this year at the World Culinary Awards.
The Symonds St restaurant has been nominated for and won a vast number of local awards.
Judge Paul said he received a “number of personal references” for Yamuchi as part of his pre-sentence report, and acknowledged he was remorseful.
He noted that he had no previous convictions, and the chef worked long hours and spent little time on his personal relationships.
“It would appear this behaviour is an aberration, and not something you have engaged in in the past.
“You are considered well in the restaurant community.”
Judge Paul adopted a starting point of between four to six months imprisonment, but with 20% discount for a guilty plea, a 10% discount for remorse and good character.
Yamauchi was sentenced to nine months supervision and 80 hours community work. Police did not oppose this outcome.
The maximum penalty for the charge is three years’ imprisonment.
Yamauchi grew up in Kagawa, Japan, and studied to be a chef at the Culinary Institute in Osaka.
After moving to New Zealand, he worked as head chef at the award-winning restaurant Rice and sister restaurant CIBO, which are both located in Auckland’s CBD.
The victim has now left the country and no victim impact statement was presented in court.
Kazuya has been removed from the Viva Top 50 Auckland Restaurants Awards after owner/chef Kazuya Yamauchi was sentenced on November 21. Viva was unaware of Yamauchi’s offending during the judging period and when the Top 50 was first published on November 19.
Jaime Lyth is a multimedia journalist for the New Zealand Herald, focusing on crime and breaking news. Lyth began working under the NZ Herald masthead in 2021 as a reporter for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei.