Sexual assault victim Clare Connor speaks out after attacker Michael Pena Chavez jailed for five years

A sexual assault survivor says her attacker did not get the sentence he deserved after the ordeal left her feeling like “a complete stranger” in her own skin. Clare Connor bravely sat in court on Friday to watch Michael Pena Chavez be sentenced to five years and six months for the shocking assault on the then 22-year-old in February 2022. Chavez was driving a red Toyota hatchback with an Uber sticker on the back, but turned his rideshare availability off when he pulled up alongside the young woman in Northbridge, who was trying to return home to Hamilton Hill after a night out with friends. Chavez told Ms Connor, who got in the front passenger seat, he was not her Uber driver but would drive her home for free. Chavez then made multiple sexual advances on her, sexually assaulting her twice. He will be eligible for parole after serving three years and six months of his five year and six month sentence. It’s a sentence Ms Connor believes is nowhere near long enough for doing “one of the worst things a person could do to another human”. “I don’t think he got what he deserved — I don’t think any amount of time would be enough for me because this is kind of going to ruin my life,” she said on Saturday. “Me going through it, I thought he should have gotten the 14 (years), which was the max.” Ms Connor said the sentencing had brought her “a sense of relief and closure” but that she felt like a “complete stranger” to herself since the assault. She said she’s been left dealing with flashbacks, which can be triggered by certain words, nightmares, and that she’s not as social as she used to be. Ms Connor recounted the moment she realised she was trapped on the night of the attack when her phone died immediately after she texted a friend alerting her she was being assaulted. “I kind of realised I can’t get out of this because at that point I was really considering rolling out of the car but he child locked me inside,” she said. “I was thinking to myself, I can’t actually get out of this in any way — my phone is dead, I’ve got no one with me, I don’t even know where I am and I can’t even roll out of the car. “I was completely frozen at that point.” At the sentencing, it was the first time Ms Connor had heard Chavez had intentionally turned off his rideshare availability before picking her up, and that he had denied raping her in three separate police interviews. It was a moment she said was “hard to hear”. “Who looks at someone in the city, who has obviously been drinking, and thinks, ‘now I’m going to pick them up because I can take advantage of them and assault them’,” she said. “It just blew my mind that someone could actually just think like that, especially someone with a family, that’s what really got me.” Judge Wallace issued a life-time restraining order against the 41-year-old in order to protect Ms Connor. If you or someone you know needs help, contact 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732), or Sexual Assault Counselling Australia on 1800 211 028, the WA Sexual Assault Resource Centre on 6458 1828 or 1800 199 888 or Lifeline on 13 11 14.