Sexual violence survivor and advocate Louise Nicholas says she’s “disgusted and saddened”, but not surprised over the actions of some police bosses – including the country’s then-top cop Andrew Coster – after sex complaints were made about one of their own.
“I’d like to say ‘yes [I’m surprised]’, but you get dumb and dumber in every organisation. It was only a matter of time before it happened again”, she told Early Edition with Ryan Bridge.
Nicholas gained a public profile after she alleged police officers raped her when she was in her teens, and while four men were later acquitted, her case still sparked an inquiry into how police treat victims of sexual violence.
She told Ryan Bridge on Herald NOW she was “gutted we’re going through this again”.
“And that the woman at the centre of it all was let down in such a way that ... it just defies comprehension, to be fair.”
An inquiry by the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) published last night strongly criticised some of the most senior police officers in New Zealand – including former Police Commissioner Coster – for failing to properly investigate a young woman’s complaints that former deputy Police Commissioner Jevon McSkimming was a sexual predator.
The woman, who McSkimming later told Coster he’d been having an extramarital affair with, was charged under the Harmful Digital Communications Act over dozens of vitriolic emails sent to politicians, senior police officers, Government officials and journalists, accusing McSkimming of being a predator who groomed women for sex.
That charge has since been withdrawn by the Crown.
Meanwhile, McSkimming resigned after a belated police investigation into the woman’s claims found he’d used his work devices to search for porn, including bestiality and child sex exploitation material, and for which he last week pleaded guilty in court to possession of objectionable material.
Nicholas told Bridge the woman at the centre of last night’s revelations had done “all the right things” only to be let down by police.
“She put complaints in and nothing was done. Why? Because it was complaints against a senior officer. And so that team just went right around him, protected him, and didn’t even bother to ... actually investigate her allegations.”
She hoped Coster would front on the report, Nicholas said.
“He’s got a lot to answer for ... I hope he does.”
Bridge also asked Nicholas about Judith Collins’ response last night when the Public Service Minister was asked if the police actions were corruption and she answered: “If it walks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, it’s really important”.
“I quite like how she said that”, Nicholas said this morning.
Collins also said in her answer the IPCA hadn’t said the police actions were corruption, and it could.
“However, when you look at the facts, it’s an extraordinary set of events and extraordinary facts, and it must never happen again.”
Nicholas has worked closely with police officers supporting survivors of sexual and family violence, and the did a “damn hard job with integrity and empathy”, she told Bridge.
“That’s why a lot of our survivors actually want to go through the process because of the support that is given. We’ve got amazing coppers out there and I don’t want what has happened to actually define the rest of the New Zealand police, because that’s wrong.”
There were “bad eggs” in every organisation, and she’d seen police call out colleagues over bad behaviour, Nicholas said.
“Let’s not bring the whole of the New Zealand police into disrepute because of these idiots.
She told the Rotorua Daily Post the actions of McSkimming and other high-ranking police officers shouldn’t disuade women from trusting police.
“I don’t want our survivors to think they can not go to the police because they absolutely can.”
She said the New Zealand public could be assured the police weren’t like they were in the 1980s during her ordeal, and there had been a culture change.
“To be fair yes we have seen a massive improvement with police and how they deal with survivors of sexual violence once disclosure is made. I have been an advocate for the great work police do and I see it firsthand every day.
“McSkimming is a very sick man and needs a hell of a lot of help and for those police officers to put that woman through the torture they put her through is unforgivable.”
However, Nicholas said those senior police officers were “rogue” and were now rightfully gone from their jobs also. She said it was heartening that the actions of McSkimming and those who supported him were discovered.
“What it tells is that police will not tolerate bad behaviour and they will call it out.”