A woman who complained about sexual abuse by former Police Deputy Commissioner Jevon McSkimming, was herself charged in May 2024 under the Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015 at the instigation of her alleged sexual abuser.
Women have reacted with shock and dismay, Women’s Rights Party Co-leader Jill Ovens says.
“It’s just the same old ‘blame the woman, call her a liar’, sexist BS from men in power,” a Women’s Rights Party member said today.
Others have expressed their horror that the “rot was at the top”.
To add to the injustice, a NZ Herald investigation has revealed that the woman who had complained was placed under very restrictive bail conditions and silenced by wide-ranging suppression orders. Publication of the case was squashed by order of the Court.
Instead of investigating whether the sex claims could be corroborated or not, Police used her emails as evidence to prosecute her for allegedly harassing McSkimming, and only after she was charged, did some officers decide, finally, maybe they should investigate whether any of the allegations were indeed true. One Deputy Commissioner described the woman’s complaints at that time as ‘rantings’.
The allegations that McSkimming was a sexual predator were actively covered up by Senior Police seeking to protect McSkimming’s chances of securing the Police Commissioner’s job in the wake of then Commissioner Andrew Coster’s resignation.
The IPCA revealed that a consideration was that McSkimming was “financially sound” and might get lawyers involved if he believed he had missed out on the top job because of an investigation.
“Nobody else facing sexual abuse complaints would be treated so leniently,” Jill Ovens says.
Senior Police officers were also influenced by a narrative promulgated by McSkimming that the woman was seeking revenge after he claims he had ended an extra-marital affair with her in 2018. McSkimming is nearly 20 years her senior – she was 21 at the time the affair started and he was 40.
The charges against the woman were dropped after the belated police investigation into her claims found he had used his work devices to search for pornography. Last week he admitted charges of acquiring bestiality and child sex exploitation material.
The IPCA Report has highlighted the role of pornography and prevalence of sexual predators in our community, including in the Police, and disturbingly, how they are protected by many men in high places, the Women’s Rights Party says.
“If people acknowledged that, they’d be more wary of men in our female spaces regardless of how the men say they identify!” a member of the Party said.
The report criticises Andrew Coster who was Police Commissioner when thousands of protesters pushed down barriers set up to protect women at a “Let Women Speak” event featuring UK women’s rights advocate Kellie-Jay Keen in March 2023.
The failure of Police to protect the safety of the women at Albert Park, and investigations by the IPCA into the 168 complaints that were filed, put the failure of policing the Let Women Speak event down to “inadequate risk assessments and inadequate planning and resourcing as a result”.
However, Jill Ovens said, at the time that IPCA report was released, that the problems went a lot deeper than operational failures, and were reflective of a lack of respect of the women who were organising the event and the supporters who were there at Albert Park.
“The women were simply not taken seriously,” Jill Ovens said.
The anger felt by women about Police inaction while women were being violently attacked still runs deep. “No wonder we felt so unprotected in Albert Park. Treating women as second class citizens, makes you lose confidence in the Police,” a member said today.
While Police Commissioner Richard Chambers has apologised to the woman at the heart of the McSkimming affair, he has stepped back from the question of compensation.
This is not surprising, Jill Ovens says. Former Police Commissioner Andrew Coster never apologised to Kellie-Jay Keen or the women at Albert Park for letting them down.
The Women’s Rights Party is demanding Police action to protect women’s safety and to ensure women complainants are treated with respect.
“It has not passed us by that it has been more than three decades since Louise Nicholas’ allegations of rape at the hands of police officers were dismissed by Police, leading to an inquiry into Police handling of victims of sexual violence,” Jill Ovens says.
“We know a lot of work has been done since to change the culture within Police, including by Louise Nicholas. That’s why there is so much disgust at the latest revelations.”