Rapist Michael Kawana fronts County Court following guilty verdict

A jury found a Geelong chef guilty of rape for a second time after a retrial. Now, his victim has described “the nightmares, the edginess, the jumping at any noise, and the fear, the crippling fear”.

Geelong chef Michael Kawana was found guilty of rape and sexual assault at a retrial in March last year.

A Geelong chef who raped a woman days after being released from prison has fronted court, as he gets set to be sentenced a second time.

Michael Kawana, 54, appeared in the County Court on Friday for a plea haring, having been found guilty by a jury of two counts of rape, one count of sexual assault by compelling sexual touching, and four counts of sexual assault.

Kawana was previously convicted of the charges at a 2023 trial however he appealed and was granted a retrial last year, which took place in March before Judge Michael Tinney.

The charges spanned four incidents between 2018 and 2020, all committed against the same victim.

The first incident occurred shortly after Kawana had been released onto a community corrections order (CCO) after a four-month jail term.

On Friday, Kawana’s victim read a second impact statement to the court, something she said she never thought she’d have to write.

The woman described living in uncertainty throughout the appeal process and the ongoing impact and trauma of Kawana’s actions, both on herself and her children.

His appeal came “like a thunderstorm”, bringing with it “the nightmares, the edginess, the jumping at any noise, and the fear, the crippling fear”.

Kawana being granted an appeal and then a retrial “shattered (her) world like a vase that had been dropped”.

Prior to the appeal decision, she had been rebuilding; the vase “slowly filling with flowers, full of hope” as she rebuilt it piece by piece.

However, the court heard she was always aware of how the vase “teetered” on the edge.

“It fell the day the appeal was granted,” she said, stating it felt like the system was “on his side”.

She wondered if she had “enough energy” to fight the system again, as the flowers “started losing their petals” and sprouted “thorns of fear” during the “agonising” wait.

Kawana’s barrister, Tanya Skvortsova, highlighted her client’s “unorthodox childhood” and diagnoses of complex-PTSD and borderline personality disorder.

Ms Skvortsova said adversity “had a profound negative impact on his development” resulting in “attachment-trauma related dysfunction”.

Ms Skvortsova told the court Kawana was, besides the offending, of good character and had no criminal history prior to 2017, nor any subsequent matters.

Kawana had shown himself to be “on the right path”, Ms Skvortsova said, and would be “unlikely to get the treatment he needs” behind bars.

Much of the discussion at the plea hearing surrounded whether the sentence Judge Tinney imposed should be greater than Kawana’s previous sentence of seven years and seven months, with a non-parole period of five years.

Judge Tinney said he was “puzzled” by the sentence imposed in the first instance, and was “deeply troubled” by the sentencing task before him, as the sentence he would have imposed would have been greater.

He noted that Kawana’s offending was aggravated, in part by the fact he was on a CCO, nor had he pleaded guilty.

However, Judge Tinney also noted he can’t ignore the previously imposed sentence.

Ms Skvortsova urged Judge Tinney not to impose a longer sentence, also noting the delay and the prospect Kawana may be deported to New Zealand.

Kawana will be sentenced on May 26.

Originally published as Rapist Michael Kawana fronts County Court following guilty verdict