Rape victim told to arrange counselling

The woman bound by Ginns was wrongly directed to WINZ. Photo / Thinkstock

The young woman raped and assaulted over several hours in Tokoroa was wrongly directed to Work and Income New Zealand and told to arrange her own counselling sessions.

The 20-year-old still gets flashbacks from the terrifying night two and a half weeks ago where she was raped, beaten and strangled by Jamie Ginns.

She was told this week to go to Work and Income New Zealand for funding assistance for counselling sessions and to arrange replacement clothing which police kept for DNA testing.

She is still waiting to get her jewellery back from police after it was also taken for testing.

"I just found out that I've got to organise counselling and that sort of thing myself and Victim Support won't do that for me.

"I'm not sure if it's because he's dead and they can't charge him. I wouldn't have a clue - I mean I thought that was Victim Support's job, they told me to go to income support which, you know, Winz don't do that sort of thing."

The woman had met with Victim Support twice - to give her victim impact statement and to attend a counselling session last week before being left to her own devices. It was common practice for Rape Crisis, the police case officer, a doctor or Victim Support to help the victim lodge the claim.

Victim Support chief executive officer Tony Paine said the organisation was now assisting the woman to lodge a claim with ACC.

He confirmed ACC - not Winz - was the most appropriate agency to lodge a claim with. "I'm not trying to avoid where we may have made a mistake ... we are certainly making sure that everyone involved, both the victim and counsellors, are shown what help is available."

Victim Support offered a $500 grant to cover for immediate financial assistance related to crime to replace items such as clothing and a mobile phone but an emergency grant for safety and wellbeing, which included counselling sessions, was only available as a "last resort" if other funding was not available.

Mr Paine had been in contact with Victim Support in South Waikato and confirmed they were working with the woman to make sure she got the help required.

He said one-off counselling applications were sometimes provided to fill the gap while claims were being processed.