A high-profile victim advocate says Labour’s announcement it is considering criminalising stalking lacked substance and gave victims “false hope” and “false expectations”.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced Labour was looking to “strengthen legal protections” against stalking and harassment, including consideration of adding an offence of stalking to the Crimes Act.
“We need to modernise our stalking and harassment laws and bring them into line with overseas jurisdictions,” Hipkins said.
Adding an offence of stalking to the Crimes Act, if aligned with laws in Australia and the United Kingdom, could entail a penalty of between 12 months’ to three years’ imprisonment, with stronger penalties if the person has possession of a weapon, for those who engage in behaviour of stalking a victim, loiters near the person’s place of residence or work with intent to intimidate, Hipkins said.
The announcement came following calls from advocates for the criminalisation of stalking following the murder of promising AUT student Farzana Yaqubi.
Yaqubi, 21, was murdered in December last year by Kanwarpal Singh, who last month was sentenced to 17 years in prison after pleading guilty to murder.
The Herald on Sunday earlier revealed that she had gone to police with concerns she was being harassed two months before she was murdered.
High-profile victim advocate Ruth Money told the Herald she was happy for future victims that Labour was considering the move, but was concerned about the “lack of action in this space”.
“Labour’s known for years and the sector has been telling them, the Government, for years, that we don’t have a law that’s fit for purpose.
“We’ve had multiple homicides, we know that violence is up and on a daily basis I’m dealing with survivors who have literally kind of had their life curtailed because of stalkers.”
Money said she had been contacted by victims following the announcement who believed the law was already being changed.
She said the announcement gave victims “false hope” and “false expectations”, and substantively “doesn’t do anything”.
“If they don’t have anything substantive to say that will change people’s lives for the better, they shouldn’t say it. It shows that they do not appreciate just how triggering these types of announcements are when they don’t have any substance.
“Today, or yesterday, we are in the same space as we were three years ago, five years ago, a year ago - it has achieved nothing.
“I welcome the intention of it, however, I can’t help but feel like it is purely just a political message this close to an election.
The current legislation did not adequately provide protection for victims, she said.
She described the impact stalking had on victims as “paralysing”, stopping them from being able to engage in life.
“I’ve got a retail worker who has had to stop working because their stalker just keeps showing up where they work, I’ve got students who simply cannot engage in university because the stalker keeps finding them, so that’s costing them their potential.
“I’ve got people who won’t come out of rooms and there’s alarms and cameras in houses, I don’t even know how many people I’ve got that go by different names.”
One victim Money was assisting was on her sixth cell phone and had alarms and cameras in her home.
“I can’t even tell you how many email addresses I’ve got for her because he keeps finding her and would email her from different email addresses.”
Criminalising stalking would “save lives”, she said and would have prevented Yaqubi’s death.
“Without a doubt, I’m so confident that if this charge was in place at the time that she would still be alive, because they would have to have acted, they would’ve been trained to act and there’s a specific charge around a pattern of persistent behaviour and that’s what he was doing.”
Following Hipkins’ announcement, National’s justice spokesman Paul Goldsmith told the Herald the party had previously said the current laws around stalking may not be robust or effective enough.
“This is a complex area of law and something we’d want to look at in government.
“Labour has dragged its feet in this area. National has always listened to victims’ advocates and we would look seriously at making stalking a separate offence if we’re elected.”
One advocate, clinical psychologist Dr Alison Towns, told the Herald she was “pleased” Labour was continuing to “consider” a staking law, but said action needed to happen now.
“The Government just needs to get on with introducing a standalone stalking law, because while they continue to dither women are losing their lives.
“Many others are seriously assaulted and have their basic freedoms curtailed by stalking: they find it hard to move around the community, to feel safe in their own homes, to go to work and their education courses safely and to sleep.
“This is not frivolous legislation, but legislation that would markedly impact on many women and others and potentially save lives. It would future-proof our law and update our dated legislation.”
Towns, a gender-based violence specialist, said there were “very good models” of what such a law would look like.
The Coalition for the Safety of Women and Children co-ordinator, Leonie Morris, said the coalition, co-ordinated by the Auckland Women’s Centre, was “pleased” that the Labour Party was committing to address stalking, “a pattern of behaviour that is insidious and yet every bit as impactful as physical violence”.
“We have been lobbying all the political parties and hope to hear from the other parties before our deadline, 13 September. The Green Party has already promised law reform.
“Stalking is unwanted repetitive and persistent intrusions into a person’s life. It is usually designed to control the victim, and it can be terrifying.”
Stalking was a known risk factor and precursor for severe and fatal violence, she said.
“Our outdated and piecemeal legislation means that stalking is not illegal in New Zealand. It is illegal in Australia, the UK, the USA, and most parts of the European Union.”
The addition of stalking to the Crimes Act needed to ensure that stalking behaviours were fully captured by name and conduct in New Zealand’s law, and that sufficient court-ordered protections were in place to protect victims of stalking and harassment, and “promote behaviour change amongst offenders”, she said.
She said police currently “lack the tools” they need to protect victims from stalking. Morris said adding stalking to the Crimes Act would ensure police were trained about stalking and its harms, raise public awareness, and allow data about stalking to be collected.
If you are in immediate danger dial 111 and ask for the police
Women’s Refuge National Helpline - Crisisline: 0800 REFUGE / 0800 733 843
shine* Domestic Abuse Helpline: 0508 744 633
Shakti 24-hour crisis line with multi-lingual staff: 0800 SHAKTI / 0800 742 584
Rape Crisis: National Call Line: 0800 88 33 00
Safe to talk - Kōrero mai ka ora24/7 Sexual harm helpline: 0800 044 334 or text 4334
Elder Abuse Response Service National Helpline: 0800 EA NOT OK / 0800 32 668 65
Hey Bro helpline: 0800 HeyBro / 0800 439 276 - supporting men to be free from violence
Family Violence Information Line: 0800 456 450 (available 9.00am -11.00pm daily)
Sam Sherwood is a Christchurch-based reporter who covers crime. He is a senior journalist who joined the Herald in 2022, and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.
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