Air Force chief says ‘we are ready to talk’
The Defence Force is looking to deal face-to-face with victims of sexual harassment and abuse rather forcing them into the courts.
The assurance came from Chief of Air Force, Air ViceMarshal Andrew Clark, in a private meeting on Thursday with survivors of convicted Air Force rapist Robert Roper.
‘‘One of the things we agreed at the meeting was that having victims/survivors going to and through court can be a damaging and retraumatising experience, and if there are ways of avoiding that then I want to look at the options,’’ Clark said.
It was hailed as a breakthrough by Hayley Young, the former naval officer who was raped while deployed to Britain in 2009. She is fighting for compensation from both the Royal Navy and the Royal New Zealand Navy.
‘‘This feels like the first time in four years that they’re willing to talk to me rather than fight me.’’
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Karina daughters of Andrews and Roper, Tracey Thompson, along with fellow victim Cherie Ham, asked for the meeting to discuss the way the Defence Force was fighting former employees in historical sexual harassment cases. The three women took a personal letter from Young to the meeting and asked Clark to act. They also raised the case of former airwoman Mariya Taylor, who was repeatedly sexually attacked and locked in a cage by Robert Roper when she worked for him at the Whenuapai base during the 1980s. Taylor sued Roper and the Defence Force this year for failing to keep her safe, and lost when it was ruled she had brought the case outside the time limit allowed. Thompson, Andrews, and Ham said they were ‘‘appalled’’ by the Defence Force’s treatment of Taylor, but encouraged by Clark’s pledge. ‘‘He was totally open to our ideas, and I believe him’’, Thompson said.