Heavily bleeding woman denied treatment by police, says family

File Photo / Martin Sykes

The family of a Rotorua woman are claiming the 20-year-old was denied hospital attention while in custody at the Rotorua Police Station, despite bleeding heavily following a recent miscarriage.

However, Rotorua police are refuting many of the family's claims but are investigating their complaints.

The woman, who does not want to be named as she feels humiliated by the experience, is now in Rotorua Hospital where her family said she is on a drip and may require surgery due to infection, after having a miscarriage on Saturday, October 23.

Whanau spokesperson Renee Kiriona-Ritete said the young woman was arrested on Wednesday, October 27, and for the following week police ignored her when she told them she was in pain and haemorrhaging while in custody.

The woman had seen her GP, Dr Nigel Eaves, on October 23 after suffering abdominal pain and bleeding. The Rotorua Hospital Emergency Department told her she was having a miscarriage and wanted to admit her to perform curettage. However family commitments meant she was not admitted immediately and was arrested before the operation could take place.

Mrs Kiriona-Ritete said the police also ignored a letter from the woman's GP, which said she was "bleeding heavily", and "is in a lot of pain and is passing a lot of big blood clots".

"I believe she needs to go to hospital for treatment before she loses too much blood," it said.

Mrs Kiriona-Ritete said police only gave the woman pain killers to ease the pain.

"There are some very fundamental human rights issues involved here and it was absolutely brutal of the police to dismiss her condition or simply write it off with a few Panadol pills."

She said police also denied the woman a pair of clean underwear until Saturday, despite her and her family making the request repeatedly following her arrest.

"She needed a spare piece of underwear to better manage the bleeding but the police did not allow this, so for three days she had to sit in a cell and struggle to control the spread of her own blood.

"Really - do they think she was going to hang herself with a dirty pair of underwear?"

It was only after the woman appeared in court on Wednesday she was taken to hospital, after the family showed the judge the letter from her GP.

"She was pale as," Mrs Kiriona-Ritete said. "She lost a lot of blood. She has been on a drip since Wednesday."

"The police were given the letter last Friday but they never acted until Wednesday and only because the judge told them to hurry up and get her to the hospital."

The family only decided to approach the media after seeing a Herald story on the Independent Police Conduct Authority investigation into the suicide of Anthony McGuire in the cells of the Rotorua Police Station two years ago.

The IPCA report was critical of the station's failure to follow procedures which could have saved the 33-year-old's life.

"It's something similar," Mrs Kiriona-Ritete said. "She didn't commit suicide, but it is about their failing to look after her when in custody."

Bay of Plenty Police acting district commander, Detective Inspector John Tims, confirmed Rotorua police were investigating the family's accusations.

"New Zealand police take every complaint seriously, as we have done in this case," he said.

"A Senior Sergeant has been appointed to manage this investigation and we expect it to be complete within the next few weeks. This has been communicated to the family. We have also reinforced to the family that they are able to make an independent complaint through the Independent Police Complaints Authority."

Mr Tims said initial investigations into the case countered the family's claims.

"While this investigation is still underway, some elements of it are complete and we are able to confirm that the woman involved requested and received medical attention while she was in the Rotorua Custodial Facility, and prior to her court appearance. We note she has been receiving medical attention following her court appearance, and has now been remanded in custody.

"We have also confirmed that the woman involved did not request a replacement set of underwear, however, a relative sought approval to provide her with fresh underwear, which was given. She was supplied with custodial clothing and appropriate sanitary requirements."

Mr Tims said the woman faced a total of 10 active charges, including burglary, receiving, assault and assault with intent to injure and assault on a child.