The young woman charged under digital harassment laws for making sex allegations against former deputy police commissioner Jevon McSkimming is still facing prosecution over alleged abusive emails sent to the detective who investigated her, the Herald can reveal.
Instead of investigating whether the sex claims could be corroborated or not, police used the anonymous emails as evidence to prosecute her for a harassment campaign against McSkimming.
She was arrested and charged under the Harmful Digital Communications Act in May 2024, placed under restrictive bail conditions and silenced by wide-ranging suppression orders.
The failure by the highest-ranking police officers in New Zealand to investigate the woman’s repeated allegations has been criticised in a bombshell investigation by the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) released this week.
In response to the report, new Police Commissioner Richard Chambers said the ambitions of McSkimming - who competed with Chambers for the top job last year - were put above the interests of a vulnerable woman.
“She was ignored and badly let down,” Chambers said on Tuesday night. “That was unacceptable.”
McSkimming had admitted to having an affair with the woman, who was nearly 20 years younger than him, which ended in 2018.
But he denied the sexual assault allegations which he said were motivated by revenge to destroy his career.
The IPCA criticised senior police officers, including former Police Commissioner Andrew Coster, for accepting McSkimming’s narrative without further investigation.
Instead, the emails led to the woman being prosecuted.
“Concerningly, some within the police failed to recognise that a possible victim of sexual assault, who had allegedly been told for years by a very senior police officer that she would not be listened to (and that explicit images of her might be distributed) if she tried to complain, might present as a desperate person sending sometimes extreme and abusive emails in an attempt to be heard,” the IPCA wrote.
The digital harassment charge against the woman was only recently withdrawn by the Crown.
This was because McSkimming no longer wished to give evidence against her, rather than the significant failings identified by the IPCA.
Despite Chambers’ apology to the young woman this week, the Herald can reveal that the woman still faces another prosecution under the Harmful Digital Communications Act.
In August this year, the woman allegedly sent abusive emails to the officer in charge of the original prosecution against her. She also allegedly sent emails to the detective’s wife.
Court documents alleged the 10 emails were sent with intent to cause “serious emotional distress”.
The emails were sent shortly after it was publicly revealed that McSkimming was himself facing charges of possession of objectionable material on his work phone and laptop.
The young woman was charged again under the digital harassment law which carries maximum penalties of 2 years in prison or a $50,000 fine.
She currently has interim name suppression.
Her defence lawyer Steven Lack declined to comment because the matter was before the court.
But at a previous appearance in the Wellington District Court, Lack told the judge that he would apply for the case to be dismissed because the prosecution was an abuse of process.
This raises the potential for Coster - and the other police officers criticised in the IPCA report - to be called as witnesses and cross-examined in court next year.
Asked why the charges had not been dropped given the circumstances, Chambers said through a police spokeswoman that the matter is before the court, and Police have instructed a senior criminal barrister in the proceeding.
“It would be inappropriate for me to comment about the merits, including public interest, of any case that is before the court” he said.
“However, what I have done and what I can say is that I have assured myself that proper process has been followed in bringing this case.”
Assistant Commissioner Mike Johnson said “Ms Z is the defendant in a prosecution in the District Court. In these circumstances it is not appropriate to comment publicly on the merits of the prosecution, including the public interest. Ian Murray, Wellington barrister and former Senior Crown prosecutor, manages the case at present. The matter will shortly become a Crown prosecution, and Mr Murray will conduct it on behalf of the Crown.”
The fallout from the IPCA report has been widespread.
Coster has taken leave from his job leading the government’s Social Investment Agency, senior police staff will face employment proceedings for allegedly bringing the police into disrepute, and the Government will establish a new position of Inspector-General to scrutinise police behaviour.
Jared Savage covers crime and justice issues, with a particular interest in organised crime. He joined the Herald in 2006 and has won a dozen journalism awards in that time, including twice being named Reporter of the Year. He is also the author of Gangland, Gangster’s Paradise and Underworld.