Cafe owner Miguel Dantas De Sa to appeal convictions for sexually assaulting a teenage waitress and offering her $200 for sex
A well-known cafe owner found guilty of indecently assaulting a teenage waitress and offering her $200 for sex is appealing his conviction after a judge said the police investigation was “deficient”.
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A prominent Adelaide cafe owner who was found guilty of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old waitress and offering her money for sex is appealing the verdict to the Supreme Court.
Miguel Dantas De Sa – a well-known figure in Adelaide’s hospitality scene – was last month found guilty following a judge-alone trial of an aggravated charge of communicating with the intention of procuring a child for sexual activity, as well as two counts of indecent assault.
The 28-year-old filed appeal papers with the Supreme Court on May 25 seeking to have Judge Liesl Chapman’s verdict overturned.
She ruled that De Sa had assaulted the then 16-year-old waitress while they were both in the cafe’s coolroom in 2016.
“While in the coolroom he asked her what she would do for $200 … she thought it was a work-related question and said she would clean out the storeroom,” Judge Chapman said in her judgment.
“He asked her to come over and sit on his lap (saying) he ‘didn’t bite’ (and) asked her questions about what type of sex she had had.
“He asked her if she would have sex with him for $200, she did not answer … he asked if she would give him a massage for $20, she said she was not very good at giving massages.”
De Sa asked her what kind of underwear she was wearing, pressuring her into pulling her pants down.
When they left the coolroom, the victim said De Sa asked her to consider his offer and said he had a shack nearby.
She later texted De Sa turning down his offer for sex. He apologised for “upsetting” her in a subsequent message.
The victim told her mother the next day that the incident had lasted for around an hour.
They went to police and reported the incident.
Judge Chapman said the subsequent police investigation was “delayed and deficient”.
Officers examined the cafe in 2019, but did not take photos of the coolroom.
The inexperienced officer who took the victim’s initial statement failed to take photos of the text messages on the teenager’s phone.
The victim’s mother was also allowed to sit in when a statement was being taken, potentially contaminating her later evidence.
It took police two years to launch a full investigation of the complaint.
Judge Chapman found the victim to be a credible witness who had been “put in a difficult, awkward and compromising situation by her employer.”
She said De Sa’s evidence was undermined by a “tension” between his testimony that the victim was an unreliable and irritating worker and his admission that he had been investing time in her training.
De Sa’s application for permission to appeal will be heard next week.