Ex-Mimbi’s Diner owner Matthew John Brown jailed for six years for rape
A once-successful Aussie restaurant owner and chef has been jailed for rape as his survivor gave a powerful statement in court.
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
EXCLUSIVE
A young Aussie woman who was raped by a far older sexual predator and former chef while “essentially unconscious” has given a harrowing account of the crime’s enduring impact.
Matthew John Brown did not react as he was sentenced to six years imprisonment after being found guilty of two counts of sexual intercourse without consent in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court.
The court heard the then-20-year-old woman had moved to Jindabyne to work in the snow season just one week before she was raped by Brown, once a successful chef and owner of a NSW south coast restaurant.
The court heard the woman drove to Brown’s house on the night of July 20, 2017, to visit a friend.
After drinking one alcoholic beverage, the woman decided she wanted to sleep. As her friend was planning on drinking for a while longer, she went upstairs to a bedroom, having initially intended to share a bed with her friend when she was done socialising.
A short while after falling asleep, the woman was shocked to wake up and find Brown was in the bedroom.
The court earlier heard evidence from the woman that Brown asked her for sex and she was “essentially unconscious” as she said “no” multiple times, before he said “come on, you know you want to”.
After dismissing her made-up excuses like being too drunk, the court heard Brown tightly gripped her wrist and raped her.
Six years later, the woman looked Brown in the eye as she read out a moving victim impact statement to court on Friday, telling him she “can’t wait to be free” of him.
“Six years ago, I moved to Jindabyne for a fresh start to make new friends, new memories and start a new chapter in my life,” she said, adding he took that away from her within a week.
“For six years I’ve been suffering from this and it’s not something I can easily erase … you took away pieces of me that I’ll never get back and stripped away my self-worth.”
Of the word “why,” she said:
“This word hits me like a bullet to the chest and fills me with regret.
“Why did I go upstairs? Why didn’t I scream? Why didn’t I kick? Why didn’t I go to the police straight away?
“I don’t know if I’ll ever recover … I can’t wait to be free from you”.
As the visibly shaken woman left the witness stand, Judge John Pickering told her not to feel any blame.
“There’s only one person to blame here,” he said.
In his scathing sentencing remarks, Judge Pickering said he was “perfectly satisfied the victim said no”.
“But people like Mr Brown aren’t necessarily the type of people who believe the word ‘no,” he said.
“(This isn’t) looking into the mind of a normal male but that of an offender. In his mind, I’m sure ‘no’ never means ‘no’.
“I don’t reckon you cared what her thought process was … not caring is as bad as knowing there is no consent”.
Judge Pickering noted Brown’s “somewhat troubling” criminal history, saying he once had a successful career as a full-time chef in the food industry.
The 37-year-old once owned the popular restaurant, Mimbi’s Diner, in the NSW coastal town of Merimbula and had a clean record before this offence.
He was forced to close his business after he was unable to pay rent while in custody.
Judge Pickering said that since this offending, he had faced a number of other sexual charges, including sexually touch another person without consent, which he pleaded guilty to and was given a community correction order for.
“While not as serious as this offending, it shows him acting without consent towards a female,” Judge Pickering said.
“Then, at Bega District court on March 17, 2022, he was (convicted of) two counts of use carriage service to procure child under 16 years and was given a 6-month non-parole period.”
On Friday, Brown was sentenced to six years behind bars for two counts of sexual intercourse without consent, with a non-parole period of four years.
He had maintained his innocence throughout the trial earlier this year, with his legal team arguing the woman made up her story as an act of “buyer’s remorse” in which she regretted having sex with him after the fact.
A jury ultimately believed the woman and found Brown guilty.
His sentence was backdated to September 6, 2021, due to time already spent in custody. He will be eligible for parole on September 5, 2025.