Sex case police in probe

The Police Complaints Authority is investigating after Motueka police refused to take a woman's case of sexual abuse to court and it was later proven in a private prosecution.

The woman's 68-year-old stepfather was convicted on eight charges of indecent assault after the Crown adopted her case.

After a jury trial last November, the stepfather was sentenced to three years in jail.

He had sexually assaulted her at least once a week for 10 years - between 1964 and 1974 - from the time she was five until she was 16.


The woman said she had spent tens of thousands of dollars to take her case to court.

She wants a formal apology from the police and an acknowledgment they discriminated against her.

The woman laid a complaint with the Motueka police in 1995.

In the five years that followed, police refused to take her case to court, saying there was a lack of corroborating evidence.

Detective Derek Milne, who has since left the police, wrote to the woman this year giving nine the reasons for the case not being taken up.

They included her employment as a prostitute between 1981 and 1983, the incidents of abuse described as lasting 90 minutes or longer being an "unusually long time", and her apparent "over-interest in matters of sexual abuse accompanied by unrealistic expectations about the investigations that take place".

Inspector John Winter, of Nelson police, also wrote to the woman in July this year, reiterating the reasons given by Mr Milne and saying the case had been sent to the police legal office in Christchurch.

Using the Solicitor-General's guidelines to determine the question of prosecution, police had also decided there was not enough evidence for a prima facie case.

"Given the successful prosecution of your stepfather by the Crown, it is easy to say that the police made the wrong decisions, but even the Crown Solicitor was not confident of success, knowing the predisposition by Nelson juries not to convict without corroboration," he said.

The woman said that the first time police turned down her case, she was "absolutely devastated".

"The system needs to change so women who make a complaint are believed and the police do not act like judge and jury."

After police refused for a third time to act, the woman took a private prosecution.

At a depositions hearing, Justices of the Peace found there was enough evidence to warrant the case going to trial.

The case was then taken up by the Crown.

The jury only took two hours to find the man guilty.

"It has been absolutely appalling. I have had to go through so much and am still fighting," the woman said.

The Police Complaints Authority complaint was laid last week.

- NZPA