Victim supports call for improved rights
A woman who suffered a violent rape by a man later found not guilty by reason of insanity has supported the call for an inquiry into how victims are treated.
The woman, who has statutory name suppression, was raped during a home invasion in Nelson in September 2017. She said she wanted to speak out in support of Nelson mental health nurse Wendy Hamer, saying it appeared little had changed in the eight years between their attacks.
‘‘I, like Wendy, escaped with my life after a brutal attack in Nelson last year, during a home invasion by a man unknown to me, who was later found ‘not guilty by reason of insanity’.’’
Hamer was punched, kicked, stabbed, and scalded with boiling water by mental health patient Blair Swain, when she went to visit him in respite care in Nelson on New Year’s Eve in 2009. He was later found not guilty of attempted murder by reason of insanity, and has this week been transferred back to a Nelson psychiatric unit.
The woman was mortified to learn that Hamer had been denied the privilege she had been given to read her victim impact statement in court.
In a statement provided to Stuff, she said she was ‘‘in awe’’ of Hamer’s resilience’’ for speaking out about the violent assault that almost took her life.
‘‘In going public with this latest assault on her healing process, she is showing courage and great care for those of us who come after her, in trying to obtain a better platform from which to recover not only from the original atrocity, but from the compounding trauma of injustice in the aftermath.’’
The woman has previously spoken of suffering posttraumatic stress disorder and a traumatic brain injury from her attack, which had made some everyday tasks ‘‘impossible’’.
West Coast man Jacob Jensen was found not guilty by reason of insanity for the brutal attack, and remains detained as a ‘‘special patient’’ under a restrictive detention order in a secure facility.
The woman said that during the court process, she was ‘‘grateful’’ that the crown prosecutor and the judge supported her to read her victim impact statement at the hearing. But she was only granted permission a few minutes beforehand, and was advised that the final decision came down to whether Jensen had agreed.
‘‘Can’t our justice and health systems understand how profoundly injurious it is have your rights handed back in this way, right back into the hands of the person who hands held you captive and nearly killed you?’’
The woman also learned that her impact statement was shown to her attacker without her knowledge.
‘‘Considering that the first thing this person did to me on the night of the attack to render me helpless was to pull a gag around my mouth, it was torturous for me to find myself once again in the position where he would get to decide whether or not I would be able to use my voice.’’
‘‘This kind of treatment is so
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damaging and unjust.’’
Reading her statement gave her ‘‘the opportunity to stand with dignity in the face of someone who had treated me without any, and to speak of that indignity without bearing it as my shame’’.
Jensen had sought treatment at the Nelson Hospital emergency department in the hours before his violent attack, but left after several hours while the mental health crisis team was attending another job.
The woman also held concerns that eight years on, not much had changed to protect the public. ‘‘I can really understand [Hamer’s] concerns that the DHB might not be adequately resourced to keep her safe.’’
Hamer said the Ministry of Justice response that victim impact statements could still be considered in cases where the attacker was considered insane was simply ‘‘not good enough’’.
‘‘The process is wrong. They’re already saying quite clearly that we have less rights that those who are victims of a criminal offence.’’
Both women also held concerns about the security of the mental health unit in Nelson.
Nelson Marlborough Health chief medical officer Dr Nick Baker said he wanted to assure the community due process had been followed for special patients, in liaison with the Ministry of Health. It would ensure notifications to Hamer about the movements of her attacker Blair Swain were made as required.
‘‘We want to assure the community that Nelson Hospital’s mental health inpatient unit provides the appropriate level of security and supervision for those patients within its care.’’