Kiwi faces prison in UK

Justin von Tunzelman. Photo / Supplied

A high-flying Kiwi businessman - who is facing a prison sentence after he was convicted of sexually assaulting a drunken, married woman in London - was arrested for offensive behaviour in New Zealand nine years ago.

Investment banker Justin von Tunzelman, 38, was found guilty early yesterday by a jury in England of stripping and groping the woman after a drunken cocktail party.

Von Tunzelman, who attended Auckland Grammar and was named as a "mover and shaker" by the New Zealand Herald in 2004, was told by the judge that he faced the possibility of jail.

Following the verdicts, Judge Stephen Robbins said another woman had made allegations about von Tunzelman's "sexual conduct" in the past, Court News UK reported.

The judge also revealed von Tunzelman had domestic assault convictions in New Zealand. In 2000, von Tunzelman was convicted of trespass, assault and offensive behaviour in Wellington District Court.

The charges related to a drunken New Year's Eve incident at Te Papa Museum when von Tunzelman allegedly waved his genitals at a female security guard and yelled "I want a woman".

When another guard arrived to escort him away, there was a struggle during which Von Tunzelman bit the guard's chest and scratched his face, the Evening Post reported.

Tunzelman pleaded guilty to the charges in 2000. Defence counsel Claire Stanley said her client wrote a letter of apology to police and the security guards and had "come to realise he needed to keep a tight rein on his alcohol consumption", said the Evening Post.

He was remanded on bail to undergo alcohol counselling.

In Auckland, von Tunzelman worked for Russell Investment and was listed in the New Zealand Herald's "Movers & Shakers" column when he was transferred to the firm's London office in 2004. He now works in London for asset management firm P-Solve.

British media this week reported that Southwark Crown Court was told that von Tunzelman first assaulted his English victim when she was slumped in a pub after a two-hour drinking session in July last year. Witnesses said he lifted her top and touched her breasts, said the Daily Mail.

Friends then took the woman, who cannot be named, back to the P-Solve offices in Piccadilly, accompanied by von Tunzelman. They put her in a side room to sleep on a couch.

According to prosector Lesley Jones, von Tunzelman went into the room where the woman was "comatose". The woman's friends felt uneasy and told him to leave.

But when they returned to the room, von Tunzelman was still there and had removed his and the victim's clothing.

Jones said it was clear von Tunzelman had "been doing something of a sexual nature".

"He took advantage when she was unable to say yes or no to what was happening and he didn't think he would be caught," the Daily Mail quoted Jones as saying.

The woman had no recollection of the assault until she was informed of it by friends. She reported it to police the following day on the insistence of her husband. "I was shocked and just felt disgusted and scared," the woman later said.

Von Tunzelman, who has a girlfriend, also said he has no recollection of the alleged assault because he was too drunk.

After 7 hours of deliberations, the jury returned a majority verdict convicting him of the office sex assault but cleared him of the second charge, which related to an alleged assault at the pub.

The judge released von Tunzelman on bail until sentencing on September 16.

"I want him to be under no illusion - he faces the possibility of an immediate custodial sentence," said Judge Robbins. Von Tunzelman may be deported at the end of his sentence.

He will now have to sign the Sex Offenders' Register.

Von Tunzelman's mother Linley declined to comment.