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Allegations
of Sexual Abuse in NZ |
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A Waikato woman who
claimed she was raped by a police officer was inconsistent with dates of the
alleged abuse and was a difficult person to interview, says a policewoman who
spoke to her. The 40-year-old woman
is on trial on two charges of making a false complaint to police that she was
raped by a constable and sexually assaulted by his colleague. The victims and the
defendant have name suppression. In the Hamilton
District Court yesterday, Crown Solicitor Simon Moore read evidence from
Senior Sergeant Karen Henrikson, who interviewed the defendant on April 14
last year. The woman claimed she
was sexually assaulted at a police station in December 2003 and was raped
several times several months later by an officer who investigated her for
credit card and cheque theft. Ms Henrikson's
statement said the defendant tended to generalise, struggled to remember
dates and found it easier to demonstrate what happened rather than discuss
it. She became emotional
and upset when questioned about specific details, Ms Henrikson's statement
said. The woman's complaints
sparked an investigation and resulted in the constable being stood down from
the police. Yesterday the defendant's
former partner told the court he was unsure of the date when the defendant
told him she was sexually abused by the policeman because she was hesitant to
talk about it. "She told me he
came round and was hassling her about the case and that he would make her
life and my life hell," the man said. Mr Moore questioned the
witness about the sequence of events, particularly about when he found out
the constable had supposedly visited and when the defendant told him about
the sexual attacks. "I didn't know
anything about what he'd done to her. If I had known I would have gone
straight to a police station to lay a complaint," he said. The court was told the
woman had a troubled past, suffered nightmares after the attack and was a
sleepwalker |
