Canterbury woman says police failures after violent strangling assault left her terrified and unprotected

When Lisa* called the police to report a serious assault by her partner, she expected protection and support. Instead, she says what followed was a series of failures, including police repeatedly telling her the man was still in custody when he had been bailed. Her experience left her terrified and questioning whether victims’ rights are anything more than words on paper. Senior journalist Anna Leask reports.

In September, Lisa’s then-partner Mike allegedly assaulted her, strangling her so viciously that he left angry red marks on her skin.

She called 111, desperate for help. But she says help is the last thing she got.

“Right now, I wouldn’t ever call them again because they have made my life worse, not better,” she told the Herald.

“As part of my job, I advise women to call the police for family harm, but now I won’t.

“I can see why women don’t call the police, and that is not okay – it is not safe.”

Lisa said she had visible physical injuries and was mentally distressed.

However, the police left her home in Canterbury without having her examined by any medical professional.

She claims they did not follow up or provide her with any information about what would happen to Mike, nor did they provide her with any safety plan or connect her to any support agency.

“They just took him away, and that was it.

“I was hoping for some support … but they just left me here. They didn’t even call an ambulance. They did offer me a referral to the Cambridge Clinic, which I refused at the time. To be honest, I was just in complete fight or flight."

The clinic specialises in sexual harm, and Lisa’s assault was not of that nature.

The next day, she emailed police and said she would take a referral - for lack of any other support.

She said that, by the time the officer got back to her, she had contacted the clinic directly and had already been to an appointment.

“When I called the police, I expected that wraparound service that I’ve told thousands of women they can expect – and ongoing communication,“ she said.

“The lack of communication has been the most traumatic thing for me. I have had to beg and beg for information.”

Lisa said police left her with no support or medical help after the alleged assault. Photo / DepositPhotos

At 8.30am the next day, Lisa’s sister arrived, and they called the police for an update.

Lisa said she was told an officer in charge (OC) had been assigned and that no further information could be provided.

She was told to wait for the OC to make contact.

Soon afterwards, Mike’s brother sent her a message saying Mike had appeared in court and been released on bail.

Lisa assumed police would let her know – but no call came.

In the afternoon, two police officers arrived at Lisa’s house to film her video statement. It was only then that she found out Mike had been charged with strangling her, threatening to kill or do grievous bodily harm and threatening behaviour.

She said she explained to them that she was not in a good place and asked them to come back another time. She explained that she had not slept since the assault, that she was significantly distressed, so had taken a sedative to help her anxiety, which meant she was “not mentally capable of providing a reliable or admissible interview”.

She said police “pressured” her for “many minutes” to speak to them.

“It was absurd. As if I wasn’t traumatised enough, they kept going on and on and I just disengaged.

“It was clear they just had no idea what had happened to me … just hours ago, I had been strangled by the love of my life.

“It felt like I was just a number, just a name in their game of cops and robbers. It has felt that way all along, like they don’t actually care that I experienced a significant trauma.”

Mike was arrested and charged after the incident in September. Photo / 123rf

During the visit, Lisa asked the police for an update on her ex-partner and told the officers she was concerned for her safety.

“I was told they were unable to provide one, they were just there to get the statement, and that, if the offender had been bailed or had appeared in court, ‘someone would definitely have contacted’ me.

“I thought that maybe there was a lag, that maybe his brother had been sitting in the court when he messaged me, and Mike was still being processed or something.”

She agreed to do a formal interview the next morning, and the police left.

“At 9.50pm, I rang 105 [the police non-emergency number] and the woman assured me that no courts ran on Saturdays in New Zealand and therefore Mike would be in custody until Monday.

“She said there was no way he’d be bailed over the weekend, that no one arrested on a Friday got out until Monday morning.”

Saturdays are generally considered a “court holiday”. However, according to the District Court rules, “some do operate if a judge considers it desirable to do so in order to dispose of business”.

The Herald has confirmed that Mike appeared before a Justice of the Peace the day after his arrest.

Lisa was frustrated – and terrified that Mike would appear at her front door. She had no idea where he was, or what state he was in.

To add insult to growing injury, the police did not show up to speak to her on the Sunday morning, as agreed.

When she contacted police, she was told to take herself to her nearest police station.

There, she was told again that, if Mike had been released, she would have been contacted.

“The fact that nobody from police or the courts had phoned me meant, according to them, that he was still in custody,” she said.

“I asked them to actually look it up, and only then did they confirm it.”

Mike appeared in court the day after the alleged assault and was released on bail. Photo / NZME

Lisa said she did not receive any formal notification or information about Mike’s bail conditions, or the charges he was facing, until the next Wednesday, when the OC finally made contact with her.

She said the whole process had been disappointing and frustrating. She listed her grievances in a detailed complaint to the IPCA, including:

• That she had tried repeatedly to get someone to explain how the court system worked, and that neither the OC nor the prosecutor would help her.
• That the police installed a safety alarm, but only provided the base unit and no pendant, meaning it was “functionally useless” unless Lisa was within reach of it. Contact by both Lisa and Women’s Refuge about the issue went unanswered.
• That there were unnecessary court delays, caused by police failing to disclose evidence in time and the prosecutor being unprepared.
• That she was not consulted at any stage about Mike’s bail conditions, which she says directly contravenes the Victims’ Rights Act.

She said the delays had “a very real and significant pressure” on her mental health and demonstrated an “ongoing lack of respect or concern” for her as the victim.

“It’s just incompetence.

“The system is broken … I am the victim here, but it’s like I don’t matter. Where am I in this process?

“The police only contact me when they want something from me. It’s devastating … I think they think I am stupid … I am strong, and I have a voice, and I have never been so disempowered in my life.

“My situation was a single isolated incident … and I think about other women in different situations, I can see why they don’t call the police, and that’s not okay. It’s not safe - and that is why I am speaking out.”

In November, she made a complaint to police about the handling of her case.

“I expressed that the ongoing failures were impacting my mental well-being to the point of feeling suicidal at times. I also said the process felt unmanageable for me,” she explained in her IPCA complaint.

“I was then told that, if I withdrew, the offender would either walk free or a warrant would be issued for my attendance.

“This was deeply distressing given the seriousness of the charge and the ongoing risk to myself and others and, in fact, felt like bullying.”

Lisa has provided a copy of her full IPCA complaint to the Herald.

She has asked the watchdog for a “full investigation” of how her case was handled, including a “lack of basic victim care, multiple failures to notify or consult me regarding bail, no ongoing follow-up or support (and) poor communication across every stage of the process”.

She wanted to “ensure accountability for decisions and omissions” by police and “prevent these failures from recurring”.

“These issues have had significant emotional, practical, and justice-related impacts on me,” she said.

Police were approached for comment on Lisa’s allegations.

Superintendent Lane Todd said he could not comment on the specifics of Lisa’s case while it was before the IPCA.

He said police were guided by policy when responding to family harm.

He confirmed that part of the “initial response” to an incident included “completing a safety plan” and “sharing information with others/agencies”.

Todd said any “non-fatal strangulation/suffocation” complainant was referred for a forensic medical examination. This was a “non-acute service and will typically be conducted three-days post incident”.

Canterbury Metro Area Commander Superintendent Lane Todd. Photo / Rachel Das

“If a victim does not consent to a forensic examination, they will be advised to seek medical attention from their GP or go to their local accident and emergency centre,” he said.

The spokesperson explained that police had “a number of obligations to victims under the Victims’ Rights Act 2002”.

“For victims of offences meeting the criteria set out by s 29 - which includes offences of serious assault and offences where the victim has ongoing, reasonable fears for their safety - police must make all reasonable efforts to obtain any views that the victim has about the offender being released on bail and inform the court of those views,” Todd said.

“Police must also notify these victims where the defendant is released on bail and their bail conditions.

“Police prosecutors use an app to arrange victim notifications for s 29 offences – there is a dedicated team who then carry out these notifications, although they only work Mondays to Fridays.

“On weekends and public holidays, it is expected that police prosecutors will carry out these notifications themselves.”

In relation to victim interviews, Todd said they must be conducted “as soon as possible”.

“For both investigative purposes and to minimise the risk of memory contamination/forgetting,” they said.

“As part of the assessment an officer makes as to whether or not a witness or victim is fit for interview, consideration is given to factors such as level of intoxication, any medications consumed, trauma, and whether or not the victim has injuries that urgently need to be attended to.

“Police appreciate that being interviewed soon after a traumatic incident can be an incredibly confronting and difficult thing to do, which is why gaining consent is so important.”

“The aim is for the victim to only tell their story once, in their own words, and because the VVS is played in court, victims don’t have to suffer the re-traumatisation of recounting the events later.”

Anna Leask is a senior journalist who covers national crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2008 and has worked as a journalist for 20 years with a particular focus on family and gender-based violence, child abuse, sexual violence, homicides, mental health and youth crime. She writes, hosts and produces the award-winning podcast A Moment In Crime, released monthly on nzherald.co.nz