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Allegations of Sexual
Abuse in NZ |
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Late last week morning commuters
might have heard on their car radios that Hamilton police were seeking the
attacker of a 17-year-old girl, late the previous night. It was the kind of
offending all right-thinking people would like eradicated from our society,
so there would have been outraged reaction, and a fair degree of sympathy for
the victim. But by late afternoon it was a
somewhat different story. The teenager had been charged with making a false
complaint after admitting the attack had not happened. It certainly wasn't the first such
complaint of its type in New Zealand. Indeed, anecdotally, it appears they
are increasing. Hamilton police, for example, had dealt with three other
false complaints prior to Christmas. And it's only a couple of weeks since
three Dutch tourists were dealt with in court after falsely claiming that
while on Banks Peninsula they'd been robbed in their campervan at gunpoint. False complaints are made for
numerous reasons, from a desperate search for attention to attempting to
cover up a sexual dalliance to, in the case of the Dutch tourists, obscuring
the real reason for damage to their campervan, a road rage incident. But it's not the fact they are
happening, but the effect false complaints can have on genuine victims and
the investigation of genuine offending that's of particular concern. For one
thing, they waste precious police time and resources. An elaborate false complaint
in Auckland last year cost $60,000 to investigate, taking police away from
other genuine cases for some time. At the time of the Hamilton case,
police were hunting an alleged serial rapist in the area and investigating an
attack on a woman days earlier. The girl's complaint might initially have had
them wondering about a connection. If so, it had them barking up the wrong
tree for several hours. Clearly, such complaints are a
major irritation to police, who have to investigate each as though it's
genuine. It would be a natural reaction on the part of police to then be a
little more sceptical in dealing with other complaints, which may explain why
some genuine victims come away from reporting incidents with the perception
they were not believed by the police. Given the often fragile mental
condition of those who make such claims, it's hard to say penalties should be
more severe, because many "complainants" genuinely need attention,
though offenders should be heavily punished where appropriate. The best that can happen is their
case is appropriately publicised. Though they should also remember they could
be indirectly responsible for harm to others if a serious incident takes
place and police resources are not available to respond. |
