Rapes often unreported - Wairarapa Rape Crisis

SCARED: It can be hard for victims to report sexual assaults, says Wairarapa Rape Crisis co-ordinator Michelle Ihaka. Posed by model.PHOTO/THINKSTOCK

Wairarapa Rape Crisis co-ordinator Michelle Ihaka says feelings of guilt and self-blame are some of the reasons why rape victims don't come forward. Ms Ihaka said Rape Crisis dealt with about 40 rape cases in Wairarapa last year, including historical ones.

She said the number of people reporting rape, and other sexual assaults, in Wairarapa was increasing but many rapes were still going unreported, with victims not wanting to notify police.

"A lot of it is the shame around it as well. I would say that would be the number one reason, with victims not wanting to come forward, and feeling guilty themselves. Sometimes they may feel like they put the guilt on themselves and are blaming themselves, even though they shouldn't be feeling that way. There are 101 reasons why people don't come forward and it's common [not to]," Ms Ihaka said.

Police are investigating a group of Auckland youths - calling themselves "Roast Busters" - whose members boast about getting under age girls drunk to engage in group sex, and then shame the victims on Facebook.

On Tuesday, RadioLive hosts, Willie Jackson and John Tamihere, interviewed a young woman who is friends with a Roast Busters' victim.

They have been accused of victim blaming over their line of questioning, asking the 18-year-old, who went by the name of Amy, if the girls were "willing" drinkers, why they had not made formal complaints to the police and asked when Amy had lost her virginity.

Amy said she believed those involved were rapists, which was met with a small laugh by the hosts, who then said: "Well if some of the girls have consented that doesn't make them rapists, right?"

Ms Ihaka said the hosts comments were "disgusting".

"It's not fair that they [the radio hosts] have blamed these girls, it's not okay, and it doesn't portray a very good look for other people that may want to come forward, that are in similar situations.

"It's absolutely disgusting."

Ms Ihaka said she had dealt with a couple of recent Wairarapa rape cases involving teenage victims and said it can be even harder for young girls to report sexual assaults. "It's a very slim amount of people that will actually talk about it, when something has happened, and especially with young girls, it's all about the shame of it. A lot of their life revolves around their circle of friends, so if these girls come out a majority of the time a lot of people are going to call them names because kids are judgmental and they don't understand the real issue."

She said a small number of the rape cases she had dealt were related to alcohol.

"Legally they can't consent if they are under the influence of something.

"It doesn't matter if these girls [the Roast Busters victims] agreed to drink alcohol - it still doesn't mean that these boys can take advantage of these girls. I can pretty much guarantee that the majority of girls wouldn't have wanted to do it and wouldn't have made that decision sober."

Ms Ihaka hoped the Roast Busters would be held accountable for their actions but said the publicity surrounding the sex scandal would make it even harder for the girls to come forward.

"It's going to be really hard for these girls to do that, they are going to have to be really strong to do that because it's in the public eye.

"It's not just their friends, or groups, that have opinions now, it's the whole country.

"They need to come forward and talk about it when they are ready, not when other people think they should."