Unanimous guilty verdicts in Tauranga rape trial

Peter Chambers (left) and Mark Arona have been found guilty by a jury in the Tauranga District Court today of raping and sexualy assaulting a woman in a local motel room. Photo/File

A jury has found two men well-known in the music industry guilty of raping and sexually assaulting an intoxicated woman in a Tauranga motel room.

The jury of four men and seven women took three hours to come back with unanimous guilty verdicts on four charges which were denied by Mark Arona, 40, and 46-year-old Peter John Chambers, who are hip-hop music producers and DJs.

The pair, whose trial began in Tauranga District Court on October 9, has been found guilty of one charge each of sexual violation by rape and sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection.

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

Arona was the principal offender in the other sexual assault offence and Chambers was found guilty of being a party to that offence.

The complainant told the jury she was intoxicated and had blacked out after having a puff from a cannabis cigar and later vividly recalled Arona and Chambers both violating her.

Arona's evidence was that he had a threesome with the woman and it was consensual.

But Chambers denied he was involved in a threesome and refuted the complainant's claim that she blacked out at any stage that night and was incapable of giving her consent.

Both men insisted the complainant was being "flirty" and indicated she was "up for" having sex with them and for some reason had made up false allegations.

Arona is the chief executive of the independent record label and entertainment company Illegal Musik.

He is also well known in the industry as MC Patriarch of the hip-hop group Ill Semantics.

Chambers, aka DJ CXL, also teaches music to young people and mentors up-and-coming artists.

Illegal Musik is the company behind some of New Zealand's biggest names in the hip-hop music scene.

Family members seated in the public gallery wept as the jury foreman read out the verdicts and exchanged messages of support with Arona and Chambers.

Judge David Cameron, who remanded the men in custody, said he would not enter convictions until the sentencing hearing on January 18.