Roast Busters: Pack-rape memories flood back to victim

The woman who was pack-raped by seven men in West Auckland 20 years ago hopes her attackers remember what they did to her. Photo / Doug Sherring

The victim of a brutal pack rape which has gone unpunished for more than two decades says the "Roast Busters" case has brought back awful memories of her ordeal.

The woman - who spoke on condition of anonymity - said she was raped at the aged of 16 by seven men in Waitakere, the same police district that has come under fire for its handling of the "Roast Busters" investigation.

Now 40 and with a 13-year-old daughter the woman said she hoped her attackers realise the enormity of what they did.

"I hope the men who did this to me think 'oh yeah, that's right, I am guilty of this too'."

The woman said she was attacked after going to a party in West Auckland. She was handed a beer as soon as she arrived and she believes the beer was spiked with the date-rape drug Rohypnol.

Her next memory was slumped on the toilet with her jeans down and two guys pulling her on to the floor. "I remember being all floppy and saying 'no' and trying to push them away but not having any strength," she said.

One after the other the men filed in, she said, taking turns to rape her. She was later told photos were taken.

The next morning she woke up naked, in bed, next to a man she did not know. "He told me he had saved me, he found me some clothes and then drove me home.

"I had bruises on my arms where I had been held and bruising and a bump on the back of my head, I was sore and I knew I had been raped."

She told her flatmates about her ordeal and was shocked with their lack of concern. "They basically asked me 'what did you expect'?"

The woman figured she'd get a similar response from police, so she never laid a complaint. "I was scared they'd say 'what were you drinking, what were you wearing?' I just wanted to forget it."

Countless counselling sessions helped the woman's recovery but she eventually left New Zealand to escape the memories.

The attackers would be in their 40s now and she believes some might still be living in West Auckland. "They might have children, daughters even, who are at the schools associated with the Roast Busters," she said. "I hope this week made them remember what I've never forgotten."