ZB ZB
Live now
Start time
Playing for
End time
Listen live
Listen to NAME OF STATION
Up next
Listen live on
ZB

Appeal rejected: Grace Millane's killer loses appeal over sex attacks on two other women

Author
Anna Leask,
Publish Date
Mon, 27 Mar 2023, 12:51PM

Appeal rejected: Grace Millane's killer loses appeal over sex attacks on two other women

Author
Anna Leask,
Publish Date
Mon, 27 Mar 2023, 12:51PM

The man who murdered Grace Millane has failed to have his convictions and sentences for sexual assaults on two other women overturned.

Jesse Shane Kempson was found guilty of murdering Millane, a British tourist visiting New Zealand who he met on Tinder, in 2019.

He was later found guilty at two judge-alone trials that followed in late 2020 for offending against two more women.

In October 2020, Kempson was convicted on eight charges relating to offending against his former partner including sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, threatening to kill, assault with a weapon and male assaults female.

In November 2020, he was convicted on one charge of sexually violating a woman in an unrelated incident.

“You have no reason to convict me,” Kempson yelled at trial judge Justice Geoffrey Venning from the dock at the conclusion of his third trial.

“I can’t wait for the Court of Appeal to overturn you, mate. You’re full of s***.”

For both sets of the offending he received total sentence of 11 years’ imprisonment. That was to be served concurrently with the life sentence he received for murdering Millane.

Kempson appealed both his convictions and his sentences for the offending against the two other women and a Court of Appeal hearing was held last year.

Today, Justice David Gendall released the decision.

He said after reviewing all of the submissions made by Kempson’s legal team and the Crown, the appeal was rejected.

“We find that neither of the individual sentences imposed contained any error, nor is the total cumulative sentence of 11 years’ imprisonment manifestly excessive,” Justice Gendall ruled.

“Both appeals against sentence are also dismissed.”

Kempson’s appeal of the murder conviction and sentence was previously rejected by the Court of Appeal.

He will be 45 years old when he is first eligible for release in 2037.


Almost every move made by Grace Millane's killer was tracked on CCTV. Video / Supplied

After Millane was murdered in December 2018, police closed in on Kempson as the prime suspect.

As detectives investigated him and searched their files, they found an earlier complaint by another woman, who had been in a relationship with him, and a corresponding protection order.

“I was Grace’s voice and I will be Grace’s voice,” she would later tell a court.

A third woman, a Brit like Millane, was also interviewed by police about a violent Tinder rendezvous she had with Kempson.

She came forward after seeing Kempson’s identity publicised by international media as the man accused of killing Millane. She instantly recognised him as the man who had raped her in an Auckland motel and when presented with a photo ID montage - positively identified Kempson.

Both women have permanent name suppression.

Take your Radio, Podcasts and Music with you