Victims lose faith in police process

A top police boss has offered to personally intervene in an alleged sex assault case against a senior officer, as a victim says she is losing faith in how investigations are handled.

Investigations Assistant Commissioner Richard Chambers put forward the offer after the woman said she did not believe she would be treated fairly if she laid a complaint.

‘‘The process is broken. It’s all wrong,’’ she said.

The victim alleged she had been sexually assaulted by a senior officer who has faced similar claims from other women.

She did not want her complaint heard by the same investigative team as she had concerns about how that case was handled.

‘‘It has opened up this old wound I had tried to forget about,’’ she said. ‘‘I am now wracked with guilt because if I had said something, he might have stopped.’’

The woman made contact with the Adult Sexual Assault (ASA) team at police national headquarters on February 19 and exchanged emails with Detective Senior Sergeant Anthony Tebbutt.

She advised that she was considering reporting a sexual assault by a senior police officer, and added: ‘‘I don’t want the people already investigating him doing mine.’’

Tebbutt replied: ‘‘There would be flexibility within that team regarding who you speak to but being a criminal investigation, it would need to be the same team that investigates any further complaints.’’

The woman was upset that her request for a different investigator had been declined, and replied she would not be filing a report.

She said she had grappled with whether to lay a complaint against the officer for the alleged historical offending.

‘‘There was no way back then that I was reporting it, because he was a policeman,’’ she said. ‘‘They have so much power, and who would believe me?’’

Chambers said he wanted to assure victims ‘‘that police will take their complaint seriously and investigate all aspects fully’’.

‘‘Where a sexual assault complaint is laid and concerns are raised by the complainant about the investigation team or process, those concerns will be considered by police and an appropriate way forward identified,’’ he said.

He also provided his email address and offered to communicate directly with the woman in confidence.

After Stuff submitted a request to police for information on the matter, Tebbutt contacted the victim to say: ‘‘I’m sorry … if I haven’t been clear. If you don’t want the current investigation team involved, that is not an issue. Your complaint can be investigated by a separate team.’’

The woman said that she would not be contacting Chambers, and questioned why she had not received such an offer before media became involved.

"The process is broken. It's all wrong."

The police complainant

Exposed rock has forced organisers to cancel this year’s Castlepoint Beach horse races.

The popular event is held annually along the shoreline at Castlepoint, on Wairarapa’s east coast.

Race steward Scott Whitehead said the problem would not be overcome by race day, previously set for March 17.

‘‘Last weekend, the beach was raceable and, most importantly, improving [but a] week of northeasterlies did us no favours with a strip of rocks appearing from the rock wall to the sea.

‘‘It seems to take a lot longer for the sand to come back, than it erodes out. To be fair on everyone involved, we had no option but to cancel. ‘‘[It’s] very disappointing, as a lot of work has gone in to get to this stage.’’

The beach races, which were first run in 1872, attract thousands of spectators – most of whom are used to such hiccups. Ongoing issues, including a lack of sand, saw them cancelled for 10 years until 2012.