Woman’s ‘scary’ date with Millane’s killer
A woman who feared for her safety in the same hotel room in which backpacker Grace Millane was murdered says she feels lucky to be alive.
The Auckland woman, whom Stuff has agreed not to name, met Millane’s killer, Jesse Shane Kempson, on the dating app Tinder in October 2018. Two months later, Kempson murdered Millane, a young British tourist, and dumped her body in the Waita¯kere Ranges. He has since been sentenced to life imprisonment.
His bid to appeal the conviction and sentence was rejected by the Court of Appeal, but he has taken his fight to the Supreme Court.
Yesterday, his name suppression was lifted, and Stuff was able to report he has also been convicted of the rape of another woman and seriously assaulting and sexually violating a former girlfriend.
Kempson and the young woman spoke for a couple of days in October before he asked her to meet him at a bar in the city.
‘‘I thought ‘ you know what, whatever, it’s in a public place’,’’ the young woman told Stuff.
Looking back, she did not feel safe, she said.
She was in an Uber on her way to the bar to meet Kempson when things took an odd turn.
‘‘He rang me like 15 times in the Uber asking if I was still coming and texting me,’’ the woman said.
‘‘He was very possessive, but I was already halfway there so continued.’’
When she arrived, he instantly came out with a drink – a vodka and Red Bull, which she thought was an odd choice for the afternoon.
Upon meeting him, she thought he was a bit of a ‘‘show pony’’ and ‘‘cocky’’, but the young woman put it down to nerves.
The pair drank for a while with another couple, then got in a bicycle tuk tuk to head to another bar.
‘‘He asked if I minded swinging by his hotel room so he could get changed as he’d been in his work clothes,’’ the woman said.
‘‘I didn’t think anything of it as it was casual [and] innocent and [I] didn’t think it was a big deal.’’
They stopped by a liquor outlet to purchase another bottle of wine for the hotel room.
‘‘He talked about himself a lot ... and how much money he had.
‘‘But he seemed intelligent and held conversation and I didn’t mind because he didn’t seem like other men on Tinder,’’ the woman said.
The situation changed when the pair reached the hotel room – the same room where Millane was killed.
Kempson and the woman spent
about an hour and a half in the room before Kempson got up to use the bathroom.
When he returned, he looked at her like he was ‘‘a different person’’, she said.
‘‘His eyes were glazed over.’’ Kempson said: ‘‘I need to leave, I need to go for a walk, I need to get out of the situation.’’
The woman initially thought he may have received a text or something had upset him, but then he began yelling at her.
She wanted to leave, but was fearful of provoking him.
Eventually, Kempson stormed out of the room, and the woman grabbed her belongings and ran out.
‘‘It was very scary, it was terrifying.’’
The woman said Kempson then began sending her text messages asking why she left.
‘‘There was something wrong with this guy and he was crazy abusive.’’
She sent a text message to her mum, which read: ‘‘I’m lucky to be alive and not been tortured, call me in the morning.’’
When the woman heard the news about Millane’s death, she burst into tears.
‘‘I was so shaken that I was in the same hotel room six weeks ago,’’ she said.
She deleted Tinder after the meeting with Kempson.
‘‘I admit I was slightly drunk but he was smart and I didn’t get any weird or creepy vibes,’’ she said.
‘‘But looking back I didn’t feel safe . . . unfortunately, I can see how this would have happened.’’