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Rape urban myth Drug-rapes
- Taranaki Hysteria December 2006 |
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Mike McRoberts Kia ora, Good evening. Is drug rape an
urban myth? A senior policeman and a criminologist are suggesting that many
of the cases we hear about are not true. Instead of women having their drinks
spiked they simply drink too much alcohol engage in drunken sex and wake up
with a guilty conscience. The claims are likely to shock many people,
especially women, but the two men making the claims are experts in their
field. Kate Lynch is being hearing what they have to say say Kate Lynch Louise Carrol set up the drug rape trust after a family
member had her drink spiked then was bashed and raped Louise Carrol Lost their career and virtually had
to start again. They had very significant injuries and have worked very hard
to recover. Their whole life of course was altered significantly. Kate Lynch But while that incident happened lots of other cases
don’t stack up. Andy King is the head of Auckland's Adult Sexual Assault
team. Since the unit was established in July he's received at least one
report of drug rape per week. Andy King And they sometimes lose control either through alcohol
or other means. They suffer memory loss, possibly have flashes of having sex
with people or some sort of sexual contact with people they weren't aware of
or cant remember doing so and believe because of that loss of control they
may have been drugged. Kate Lynch All of the cases he's investigated came about through
alcohol, not drugs. Andy King They believe that they couldn't lose control of
themselves in such a manner under the influence of alcohol alone, so I think
they look for other possible reasons for that loss of control. Kate Lynch Over the past few weeks theres been a spate of reported
drug rape crimes. Police in Taranaki have even expressed frustration that
women are going to rape crisis centres instead of them. In Christchurch,
Professor of Sociology at Canterbury University, Greg Newbold echos what Andy
King is saying. He says random drink spiking and drug rape is an urban myth Greg Newbold. Nearly all of the cases where there are
claimed drug rape there are no drugs found in the blood. It's very rare for
drugs to be found in the blood of drug rape claimants. It's normally alcohol
and they blame drugs on their own stupidity. Kate Lynch Rape Crisis disagrees. It says drug rape does happen
but acknowledges that alcohol is the bigger problem Kim McGregor Alcohol is a mind altering drug. They
can't make decisions as easily and after a few drinks it's more difficult to
protect themselves. Kate Lynch Rape Crisis and the police agree on one message this
Christmas. Women out socialising should watch how much they're drinking and
with whom. Kate Lynch, Three News. |