Merepeka Raukawa-Tait: Rape cases and the police

We can no longer deal with just the tip of the iceberg. Photo / File

Rape is not pretty. It is horrific for the victims. Many live with the impact, sometimes their entire life. Others sadly don't want to continue to live. They take themselves out of existence.

Last Friday, a woman from another part of the country rang me while I was on the radio. She told me she was married with five children when she was raped. She told only her husband. They both tried to cope with the trauma the rape caused and attempted to put it behind them. Her husband couldn't. It eventually destroyed their marriage. She hasn't told anyone else, including the police. I would suggest that man has raped again. That's why girls and women should report rape and sexual assault.

And we must support them when they do.

When it is children; girls aged 13 or 14 years, who are violated then you know New Zealand continues to be in serious trouble. We might kid ourselves into thinking we are dealing to the basic instincts of misogynists but when episodes such as Roast Busters occur, we realise how much further we have to go.

It's probably wrong to refer to these young men as women-haters. Rather their despicable behaviour shows them to be self-loathing individuals. When you feel good about yourself, there is no need to act as they do. Their own bragging on Facebook has made them hated by people up and down the country. Their behaviour is loathsome and an intolerable breach of the human rights of the children involved.

It is the actions of the police in this case that worries me. They need to take a long hard look at how they treat those reporting sexual assaults. It's not good enough to say, after declaring no victims have come forward, "sorry, that's not quite correct, four girls did speak with us but we didn't have enough evidence to go on". What do they want? To be there on the spot when the girls are getting raped. I now think cases of sexual assault and rape should not be investigated exclusively by members of our police force.

They lack the required level of understanding, expertise and skills to deal with the complex and multiple issues that surface as soon as a victim even contemplates laying a complaint.

Start off on the wrong foot and you'll never get the information and facts to support a charge being laid and prosecution. It is only natural that girls who have been sexually assaulted and raped hesitate to come forward and report. They don't know what to expect and often even where to start. They don't know who they'll be talking to and whether they'll be supported and believed during the harrowing hours it takes to recount what happened. If a married woman can't bring herself to go to the police, imagine how much more difficult it is for young girls. It's time to make some changes.

Why don't we ensure the message gets out? "The sisters are cool - real men know that". "Look after the sisters - then you're a bloody legend". "It's cool to be a real man". When was the last time we saw any advertising encouraging young girls and women to report inappropriate behaviour, let alone rape. Do we anticipate a line of complainants stretching around the block, all wanting to tell what happened to them? Do we think we wouldn't have the resources to cope with the flood of responses we might get to the invitation to "come forward"? My view: open the floodgates. We will cope. We can no longer deal with just the tip of the iceberg and get all hot and bothered when incidents such as the Roast Busters stir us up.

It is now five years since the release of Dame Margaret Bazley's Commission of Inquiry Report into police culture. Perhaps it's time to revisit this piece of work and look at the recommendations.

Were they all actioned? The report highlighted "negative stereotyped views of complainants, and a culture of scepticism in dealing with complaints of sexual assault". This must still be the prevailing view with some police officers.

There is no acceptable reason for all four girls not to have been believed. They were minors at the time. The acts by the boys were illegal. Full stop. The girls were badly let down.

Who can our girls and women turn to for help, for their complaints to be taken seriously if not the police? If the police can't do the job or feel uncomfortable undertaking this work, they need to move aside. Let those who understand this area of work well and know what's at stake here get on with it. We should all be up in arms about any shabby handling of sexual assault complaints.