Life in NZ 'living hell' for Chinese brides

Christchurch has become a "living hell" for some Asian women married to abusive Kiwi husbands, a Chinese language newspaper reports.

iBall, a bilingual, weekly paper, says under the headline "Living Hell" that at least eight Chinese women were assaulted by their Christchurch husbands last month.

It published harrowing first-hand accounts from two women, brought to New Zealand after meeting their husbands over the internet or through dating agencies, telling of beatings and, in one instance, being forced to have sex with other men.

The paper quotes one woman, named only as Lina, who said she was told by her husband she must obey him because he was white and could "go to the immigration office and get them to kick you out".

Editor Lincoln Tan said Lina, who was taken to hospital after her husband beat her with a bottle, contacted the paper when a court case against him collapsed because of lack of evidence.

Tan said: "She didn't know who else to turn to. She felt like she was at her wits' end." Witnesses from the Chinese community refused to testify against him because they did not want to bring trouble on themselves.

Another woman, named only as Josie, told how she was forced to have sex with her husband's friends and regularly suffered physical and verbal abuse.

She consented to sex with the men, against her will, because she had been taught to be obedient to her husband and believed it was part of Western culture.

Tan said many of the women came from rural communities in China, where marrying a Westerner was "like marrying a movie star".

They were isolated from friends and family and did not know who to turn to.

The eight women in the report had contacted the Shakti Ethnic Women's Support Group for help and Shakti had come to the newspaper wanting it to publicise their plight, Tan said.

The story had prompted more Asian women to complain to the newspaper.

One woman complained she had no control over money in her relationship with her New Zealand husband and another woman was not allowed to associate with other Asians.

A spokeswoman for Shakti said police were dealing with the issue on a one-to-one basis.

"The only thing we can do is work with the women. This is a relationship with two consenting adults. We can't do much more than educate women about their rights," she said.

Christchurch police Asian liaison officer Rakesh Naidoo said he was not personally aware of any cases of domestic violence by New Zealand men on their Asian wives, but added: "If it's taking place in one particular community, we would have a chat with them.

"If there are women who are being abused, it's serious. We'd like to hear from them."

Police family violence co-ordinator Pegeen O'Rourke said the problem had to be seen in the context of Christchurch police attending more than 400 incidents of domestic violence a month.

The problem did not appear to be worse for Chinese-Kiwi couples than other ethnic groups, although Asian women were often reluctant to talk to police because of language barriers, fears about immigration status and cultural differences.

"Sometimes in the country they come from the police don't see family violence as an issue and they don't get involved. Sometimes they don't know help is available," said Ms O'Rourke.

She called on neighbours to report suspicious incidents to police.

The website www.police.govt.nz provides foreign language information on domestic violence.

- NZPA