The New Zealand man who murdered British backpacker Grace Millane committed violent sex crimes against at least two other women, a court yesterday revealed, as police urged any more victims to come forward.
The Supreme Court overturned orders banning Jesse Shane Kempson being identified as the predator who strangled Millane in December 2018 after the pair met through the online dating app Tinder.
The murder shocked New Zealand, which is usually regarded as a safe place to travel, prompting a tearful apology to Millane’s family from New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern after the young traveler’s body was found.
Photo: AP
The suppression orders on reporting Kempson’s name remained in place even after his murder conviction in November last year, with the court offering no explanation at the time for the highly unusual move.
However, a judgement released yesterday revealed that he was still facing two trials for sexual offenses when the Millane verdict came in, and the court feared naming him could prejudice those proceedings.
In the first, he was convicted of sexual violation, assault and threatening to kill his former partner, reportedly brandishing a knife to her throat.
The second resulted in a rape conviction involving another woman that Kempson met on Tinder.
He was sentenced to a total of 11 years for the sex crimes, to be served concurrently alongside the sentence of life with a 17-year non-parole period for Millane’s murder.
Detective Inspector Scott Beard said that the “callous, narcissistic” serial sex offender might have more victims.
“There could well be other women out there who Grace’s killer may have offended against,” he told TVNZ. “If they’re not sure what to do, come to the police and speak to us.”
Kempson’s appeal against the Millane murder verdict was rejected last week and the court found that there was no longer any need to prevent the 28-year-old from being named.
Millane disappeared on the eve of her 22nd birthday, within days of arriving in Auckland while on a year-long, round-the-world trip after graduating from university.
She met her killer for the first time on the evening of her death after matching with him on Tinder and the pair went back to his city-center apartment after visiting several bars.
Kempson’s lawyers claimed at his trial that she accidentally choked during a sex game gone wrong, a defense rejected by the jury, which unanimously found him guilty.
The case prompted British lawmakers in July to ban the so-called “rough sex defence” in sexual violence cases, with women’s advocates pushing for similar reforms in New Zealand.
A humanoid robot that won a half-marathon race for robots in Beijing on Sunday ran faster than the human world record in a show of China’s technological leaps. The winner from Honor, a Chinese smartphone maker, completed the 21km race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, said a WeChat post by the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, also known as Beijing E-Town, where the race began. That was faster than the human world record holder, Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo, who finished the same distance in about 57 minutes in March at the Lisbon road race. The performance by the robot marked a significant step forward
Four contenders are squaring up to succeed Antonio Guterres as secretary-general of the UN, which faces unprecedented global instability, wars and its own crushing budget crisis. Chile’s Michelle Bachelet, Argentina’s Rafael Grossi, Costa Rica’s Rebeca Grynspan and Senegal’s Macky Sall are each to face grillings by 193 member states and non-governmental organizations for three hours today and tomorrow. It is only the second time the UN has held a public question-and-answer, a format created in 2016 to boost transparency. Ultimately the five permanent members of the UN’s top body, the Security Council, hold the power, wielding vetoes over who leads the
South Korea’s air force yesterday apologized for a 2021 midair collision involving two fighter jets, a day after auditors said the pilots were taking selfies and filming during the flight and held them responsible for the accident. “We sincerely apologize to the public for the concern caused by the accident that occurred in 2021,” an air force spokesman told a news conference, adding that one of the pilots involved had been suspended from flying duties, received severe disciplinary action and has since left the military. The apology followed a report released on Wednesday by the South Korean Board of Audit and Inspection,
An earthquake registering a preliminary magnitude of 7.7 off northern Japan on Monday prompted a short-lived tsunami alert and the advisory of a higher risk of a possible mega-quake for coastal areas there. The Cabinet Office and the Japan Meteorological Agency said there was a 1% chance for a mega-quake, compared to a 0.1% chance during normal times, in the next week or so following the powerful quake near the Chishima and Japan trenches. Officials said the advisory was not a quake prediction but urged residents in 182 towns along the northeastern coasts to raise their preparedness while continuing their daily lives. Prime
RSS