COSA
Newsletter June 1998

Woman
charged with making false rape claim

In Feb this year a 45 year old woman was tied up and sexually assaulted in her Orakei home. Her attacker is described as a Maori or pacific Island man in his 20s, of athletic build. On 22 Apr a 25 year old woman from the same street reported to the police that she had been grabbed by an attacker outside the door of her house. He had slashed her clothes off with a knife and tried to rape her. She had fought him off but suffered cuts to her face and hands. From her description, the police believed it was the same attacker and resident in the area were warned to secure their homes and protect themselves against this serial rapist. The woman was interviewed on national TV on the Holmes Show about her experience.

On 11 May the 25 year old woman reported to the police that she came home to find a note made of cut-out newspaper letters in her kitchen from the offender, threatening to come back and ‘do her properly’. It was reported in the paper on 13 May that the police were keeping guard outside her home all night to protect her.

The following day, the paper reported that the woman had now been charged with making a false complaint. She was not named. The original sex attack on the 45 year old woman is still unsolved.

(NZ Herald, 13 May 1998, Sex attack suspect leaves calling card at victim’s door; 14 May 1998, Residents shocked at false claim charges)







The Dominion
May 13, 1998

Attacker may have left note
NZPA

A serial sex attacker may have returned to the home of his victim to leave a note threatening to come back and rape her "properly".

Police were keeping an overnight guard outside a bungalow in the Auckland suburb of Orakei last night, amid fears the hooded man who tried to rape the female resident three weeks ago will return.

The note was found in her kitchen during daylight yesterday -- despite a massive police presence as investigations continue into her last attack.

The head of Operation Orakei, Detective Sergeant Julian Rinckes, would not comment on the note, but sources say the author threatened to come back and "do her properly".

Police investigations into two linked sex attacks have uncovered 26 reports of break-ins, burglaries, and prowlings within a kilometre radius which could be the work of the same man.

Residents are reluctant to open their doors at night and say they are being kept prisoners in their own homes.

One said the woman who found the note was terrified by the latest development and intended to move out of the neighbourhood.

Police coverage in the street began on February 4, when a 45-year-old resident was tied up and sexually assaulted in her house during the day.

On April 22 the woman who was left the note was grabbed as she put her dogs outside her back door. A man wearing a balaclava slashed her clothes off with a knife and tried to rape her. She suffered cuts to her face and hands before she kicked him in the groin and ran for help.

The man was described as a Maori or Pacific Islander. In both sex attacks he wore a hood, but was described as having red "protruding" eyes.








The Dominion
May 14, 1998

Woman charged over false complaints

A serial sex attack inquiry is now focusing on one attack in an Auckland suburb after police arrested a woman yesterday for making false complaints.

Glen Innes detectives set up Operation Orakei to investigate sexual attacks on two women in their Paerimu St homes on February 4 and April 22 this year, as well as other incidents possibly linked to the attacks.

However the inquiry team arrested an Orakei woman, 25, yesterday and charged her with making false complaints in relation to allegations of sexual violation on April 22. She was also charged with burglary and threatening to cause grievous bodily harm on May 11.

Senior Sergeant Jim Gallagher said the May 11 charge related to the alleged discovery of a note at a Paerimu St home. The woman is due in Auckland District Court today.

Police are now concentrating on the February 4 attack in which a woman, 45, was grabbed by an intruder after returning home about 11.30am. Mr Gallagher said the woman was sexually violated by a masked man wielding a knife. The intruder, who tied the woman up during the attack, was described as a Maori or Polynesian, about 1.7 metres (5ft 7in) tall, aged in his 20s, of athletic build, and wearing a black top and blue and yellow shorts.

Police have asked for information about property stolen during the attack. Items that were listed included a portable compact disc player, a pair of roller skates and some Adidas running shoes.

Previous police investigations into the two alleged attacks uncovered 26 reports of break-ins, burglaries, and prowlings within a one-kilometre radius. Police warned women living on their own to secure their homes and report any suspicious behaviour.