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Allegations
of Sexual Abuse in NZ |
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Fumbled 111 calls, a
flood of email pornography and serious criminal cases parked on the shelf.
Now a shoddy investigation is being blamed for the collapse of a rape trial,
further damaging the image of police. Joseph Abner Walker,
who was accused of rape, faced up to 20 years in jail but walked free when
security camera footage backed his story of consensual sex with a teenage
complainant. Christchurch police
never watched the full security tape, missing evidence of a tryst in the
women's toilets in Cathedral Square. Criticism has been
fired at police and their legal advisers for allowing a deficient prosecution
to get to court. The case has also raised concerns about the supervision and
mentoring of rookie detectives. Prominent defence
lawyer Pip Hall, who acted for Walker, said "it was a very bad
investigation, in many respects." Elizabeth Walker, the
accused man's mother, said police had "put us through hell, our whole
family. We're all still struggling to pick up the bits". The complainant was 18
last May when she met Joseph Walker, then 30, for the first time in a bar on
the Strip. Both had been drinking
heavily. They danced, promptly left the bar, and kissed on Hereford Street. Walker told police he
thought he was "in with a grin" as they headed for the public
toilets in Cathedral Square. "This girl made
her intentions quite obvious from the start," Walker said. "We walked to the
toilets in the Square – it was her intention. I think she just wanted to have
sex and go back clubbing." Walker said they
entered one of the women's toilets where the complainant "started
kissing me and pulled her pants down". An attempt at sexual intercourse
was unsuccessful, Walker said. The complainant denied
the encounter, saying she had no memory of it. She did, however, remember
catching a taxi to Walker's home where she alleged he raped her outside. Walker said they did
not have sex at his home. He said he was locked out, found a way in through a
window, and the young woman was gone when he opened the front door. He said: "I am
innocent and I did not rape this girl. I did not force myself on her and did
not do anything she did not consent to." A medical examination
later revealed an abrasion near the complainant's vagina. The inquiry was headed
by a rookie, Detective Constable Kelvin Holden. It was his first time in
charge of a rape case. At last week's trial in
the Christchurch District Court, Holden testified to seeing no sign of Walker
and the complainant at the toilets after reviewing more than four hours of
security footage.
Walker had given police
an indicative time of 1.20am for his allegedly consensual sexual encounter
with the complainant. Holden sourced the
security tape from a 24-hour city council camera, and watched it from 11.45pm
to 4am. But at trial, when the
tape was played for an additional 15 minutes, a compelling image was found
and showed Walker accompanying the complainant into the Cathedral Square
toilets. The complainant could
be seen walking in first. Draped over her shoulders was Walker's padded, down
jacket. The prosecution was
effectively torpedoed. After discussions with the complainant, the Crown did
not oppose a defence application to discharge Walker. The Weekend Press spoke
to Holden, who was "disappointed" by the reversal. "I suppose in hindsight
I should have checked (the tape) a lot longer, but I thought we had it pretty
well covered," he said. Holden accepted it was
another blow to a police force already reeling from a string of horrors,
including 111 botch-ups, the circulation of pornographic emails and a
shortage of investigators in some areas. "Unfortunately
we'll get blasted for it," Holden said. "I will anyway ... police
are the easiest target." He said Walker may
still have been charged, even if the security footage had surfaced earlier. Hall believed police
should have sent the full tape to its electronic crime laboratory for proper
analysis. Hall also criticised
police for not conducting forensic examinations of the complainant's clothing
or the scene of the alleged rape. Former senior detective
Dave Haslett, now a private investigator who helped with Walker's defence,
said the latest police blunder was symptomatic of slipping standards. "I'm seeing too
many matters like this one that should have been more robustly investigated
before a decision was made to place them before the court," Haslett
said. "You do need experienced staff supervising and mentoring to reduce
the risk." A fisherman with a
five-year-old daughter, Walker was said to be relieved by the outcome, but
too shattered to comment. His mother, Elizabeth
Walker, said: "He just wants to pick up his life and move on." Joseph Walker had lost
some of his larrikin humour, she said. He was quieter now, more withdrawn. As an offshoot of the
rape inquiry, Joseph Walker was convicted of cultivating cannabis. He was
fined $850, plus costs |
