|
Allegations of Abuse
in NZ |
|
|
|
|
|
Judith
Garrett holds her head high when she walks in Kaitaia, a Far North town where
nasty pamphlets were once displayed accusing her of crying rape. Ms
Garrett, who nearly 16 years ago complained she was handcuffed and raped by a
Kaitaia police officer, moved back to the area just 10 days ago after
spending five years being "anonymous" in Otago. Ms
Garrett's return to Kaitaia coincides with news that her alleged 1988 rape by
a constable will be taken into account when terms of reference are decided
for a commission of inquiry into claims police covered up the alleged rape by
three police officers of Rotorua woman Louise Nicholas. Prime
Minister Helen Clark said Ms Garrett's case "made her hair stand on
end" and raised questions about the culture within the police. Ms
Garrett, 60, said Miss Clark's decision was "really gratifying". "I
had completely given up," she said. Charges
were never laid, and Ms Garrett took her case to the Court of Appeal. Ms
Garrett, who emigrated from "I
think it was good getting some distance from it all; as time goes past your
grief lessens." But she missed her close friends and felt homesick, so
moved back at the end of January. "Kaitaia
is much less of a frontier town now. There's tourists, a lot of millionaires
living in the area. It's changed. It's a nice town now – well, I think it is.
"When
I've come home I've seen it's changed. And there's new police now." She
had intended to "quietly settle in" to her "little part of
paradise". That
was before she heard a radio report about a cover-up of a police rape. The
similarities to her own experience were uncanny, and she assumed the report
was about her – but it turned out to be about Mrs Nicholas. She
had contacted the Rotorua woman to offer her support. Ms
Garrett said she had been through so much after her alleged rape, that she
just wanted the commission of inquiry to "go where it's going to
go", and she would not push for the criminal case to re-open. She
said that after her alleged rape some Kaitaia people close to the case had
"spun" stories to explain the sex as "consensual",
something she now says is laughable, but at the time saw her barely venture
outside for six months. Friends
had eventually convinced her to go to a function but that had proved
disastrous when she encountered people who abused her for "lying about
cops". Then
a pamphlet was circulated stating: "Judith Garrett seduces boys then
cries rape. Mothers beware. Do the town a favour and display this
pamphlet." Ms
Garrett now lives in a house near Kaitaia that she shares with a close
friend, and two dogs. The
police officer she claims raped her is now understood to be living in
|
|
|
|
|
