Photo: 123rf.com
An independent watchdog has found police inappropriately charged a man who was wrongly accused of attempting to sexually assault a woman viewing his rental property.
Within minutes of entering the rental property in Auckland in 2019, the woman locked herself in the bathroom and called police, alleging he had tried to assault her.
After interviewing the man at Avondale station, police charged him with the intention to commit rape and threatening to kill.
The Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) found officers should have charged the man with a lesser offence, and that their investigation was inadequate.
It found the police were right to arrest the man while they investigated the allegations.
The IPCA report said police arrived at the house to find the woman "was visibly distressed, crying, shaking, and having trouble controlling her breathing" and said that she had a bruised and swelling right cheek.
She told the officers she was "very sore that she felt dizzy", and claimed that the man had "pushed her onto a bed and asked for sex".
The woman alleged the man had hit and punched her, ripped the buttons from her dress and threatened to kill her if she moved.
She told police she had locked herself in the bathroom and called 111.
The IPCA said that none of the officers observed any injuries on the woman and that the buttons on her dress were undone and pulled loose, but not torn off.
Meanwhile, the landlord was arrested for assault and taken to Avondale Police Station for questioning, after which the charges were laid.
The IPCA said the man accused raised several matters that should have caused police to doubt the veracity of the woman's allegations.
Its report said the landlord had stayed at the scene calmly waiting outside when police arrived, was happy to speak to police, questioned the timing of the woman arriving at the rental and locking herself in the bathroom and told officers he suspected he was being set up by a person who had previously attempted to extort money and property out of him, and who had been charged with assaulting him.
The IPCA said at this point officers should have decided the woman's claims at least warranted further investigation.
It said police could have charged the man with a lesser offence while assessing and investigating the information.
Instead, they charged him with threatening to kill and assault with the intention to commit rape.
Throughout the subsequent police investigation, the man, his legal representatives and others raised multiple points that cast doubts about the woman's allegations.
"The allegations made by Ms Y were very serious, including sexual assaults, physical violence, and threats of further harm. However, in this case, Mr Z had raised several matters that should have raised concern to the veracity of Ms Y's allegations," the IPCA said.
The charges were inappropriate.
"Police could have charged Mr Z with a lesser offence, such as an assault, under the Crimes Act so that bail conditions could be imposed. This would have ensured the safety of Ms Y while allowing more time to assess and investigate the available information."
It took police almost a year to review the timeline of events, and to extract data off the woman's phone.
Charges withdrawn a year later
Just before the man's trial was about to start, over a year later in February 2021, police withdrew the charges.
They found there was a connection between the woman and someone suspected of trying to extort property and money from the man she accused.
The IPCA found that if the police officer investigating the woman's claims had requested more assistance from senior officers, "police would have concluded her claims were false much more quickly".
"The time it took police to discover that Ms Y's claims were false is aggravated by the fact that right from the day of his arrest, Mr Z put forward explanations and methods that police could have used to expose Ms Y's claims as untrue, such as the issues with timing and the links between Ms Y and the person potentially extorting Mr Z," the IPCA said.
The woman has since been charged with making false statements.
The IPCA said as a result of the charges and the length of time before they were withdrawn, the man and his family suffered significant financial, emotional, and reputational damage.
Police have acknowledged the man's suffering, apologised and offered to pay his reasonable costs.
Auckland City District Commander Acting Superintendent Sunny Patel said police accepted the IPCA's findings.
"If a more thorough assessment of the evidence had been carried out by police at the time, as required by the Solicitor-General's prosecution guidelines, it is likely we would have discovered the woman's allegations warranted further investigation."
He said this meant the charges against the man were before the courts for significantly longer than they should have been.
Police reviewed the matter internally alongside the IPCA's own separate investigation.
It had been managed as a performance issue with the staff involved and clear expectations had been set, Patel said.