111 sex victim's trousers ripped

The sex attack victim asked by a 111 operator to walk to a nearby police station was in tears during the call and told police her trousers had been ripped open during the assault.

The operator initially said she would send a police car but changed her mind and asked the victim if she would be able to walk to the Dinsdale station in Hamilton.

The young woman constable from Auckland's northern communications centre is to be interviewed today in an internal inquiry overseen by the acting Waikato commander, Superintendent Pieri Munro.

Mr Munro has studied the call made shortly after 8am on January 27. He described the victim as upset and thought she had been in tears.

The case emerged in Parliament this week as the Opposition pressured Police Minister George Hawkins over police responses to various incidents.

The complainant is a 22-year-old woman from Australia who was visiting relatives in New Zealand.

Mr Munro said the woman's boyfriend had made the call but when he could not be understood (because of his foreign accent), he passed the phone to the complainant.

"She related a guy had 'touched her up' and ripped her pants open.

"The communicator said she would get a unit to come to the young lady and her friend."

But at that point the operator requested that she walk to the Dinsdale station - about 700m away.

Mr Munro said the woman agreed. The tape indicated she was upset "but she didn't seem to be any more so in terms of that request".

Ken Mair, a relative of the victim, who has returned to Australia, said it took 20 to 30 minutes for the couple to walk there. She had to be carried part of the way due to shock.

The initial attitude of the police after this week's disclosure was almost to blame the complainant, saying she had not conveyed the seriousness of her complaint.

But within hours they were conceding they may have let her down.

"Were it a member of our own family, we would expect the police to have got there as quickly as possible," Police Commissioner Rob Robinson said on National Radio. He apologised that the victim's trauma had been worsened by her treatment.

Mr Mair said the family had asked if they could listen to the tape and requested a private meeting.

Mr Hawkins rejected Opposition calls for him to resign after telling TV One's Close Up: "I take the rap when things start to break down."