Sex assault charges rise by 33 per cent, legal aid fees double in past five years

The number of sexual assault charges filed in Aotearoa annually has increased by 33 per cent - nearly 1700 charges - in the past five years.

The hike comes as new figures, released to the Herald under the Official Information Act (OIA), reveal the amount invoiced in approved legal aid fees for sex offence-related cases has more than doubled during the same period, going from $9,133,882 in 2018/19 to $18,701,536 in 2022/23.

Legal aid is funding for people who need a lawyer but cannot afford one.

It is considered a loan and people may have to repay some or all of their legal aid bill, depending on their income and assets.

A woman whose former partner was convicted of several sex offences, including rape, was shocked by the rise in legal aid costs. She believes a lot of people are “playing the system”.

Although her former partner owned a large property, she said he was not made to subdivide the section to pay his legal bills.

“It absolutely disgusts me.”

Another Herald OIA request found her former partner was granted $65,000 in legal aid.

The woman said the increase was not surprising given what she witnessed with her former partner’s case.

Ministry of Justice legal services commissioner Tracey Baguley told the Herald many factors had contributed to the increase in spending, including the rising number of charges, and an 11 per cent increase in legal aid grants during the period.

There was also a 12 per cent increase in the hourly rate paid to legal aid lawyers from July 2022, which has increased expenditure on the grants.

Baguley said the increase was also impacted by the price of other costs related to legal aid which had also gone up over time.

“These include specialist or other reports, travel costs and other necessary disbursements.”

She said there was also an increase to fixed fees in July 2018, which would have affected the total amounts approved in subsequent years.

“The previous fee schedules applied to cases that continued into 2018/19 and beyond but commenced before July 2018.”

As well as this, Baguley said in recent years court cases have lengthened due to more court appearances and the complexity of proceedings.

“This has had an impact on legal aid spend.”

The total invoiced amount in legal aid for the offences in 2019/20 was $9,662,896, the following year was $13,761,830 and in 2021/22 it was $14,200,814.

Detective Inspector Dave Kirby, police adult sexual assault national manager, told the Herald there was a 15 per cent trend upwards in sexual assault victimisations reported to police, between 2018 and 2023.

“These figures fluctuate year on year, and the trend of this data over time is more indicative of the true picture, as opposed to comparing two different years.

“An increase in reporting to police could be attributed to the better service being offered to victims of sexual offending by way of care and support from specialist police staff in this area, and crisis response, counselling, medical support, and advocacy groups.”

Ministry of Justice data shows in 2018/19, 1344 people had finalised sexual offence charges against them, the following year this dropped to 1197, before increasing again in 2020/21 to 1482 and 1400 in 2021/22.

Just under 1650 people were charged with sexual offending in 2022/23.

Katie Harris is an Auckland-based journalist who covers social issues including sexual assault, workplace misconduct, crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2020.