Wellington Rape Crisis calls for changes to criminal justice system in light of ‘Roastbusters’ decision

Wellington Rape Crisis has added its voice to the public outcry following the announcement that there will be no charges in the teen rape gang case.

Butterworth says the decision not to lay charges will not have been a surprise for many who work in this area, but that to keep accepting such poor results from our systems is unacceptable.

“Through this case we see again the reality of sexual violence in real life; survivors are left without answers or recourse to Justice, offenders are left without treatment, these are not building blocks for a healthy society”

The agency calls on the Government to reopen the Law Commission’s recommendations for how sexual violence cases are handled that was shelved in 2012 by then Justice Minister Judith Collins.

Agency Manager Eleanor Butterworth says “We have seen example after example in the media over the last two years of just how badly our system fails survivors of sexual violence, there is no excuse that justifies continuing with a system that does not deliver justice for survivors on such a consistent and major level”.

The Law Commission report that consulted widely with experts in the sexual violence sector and listed a series of recommendations to trial and pre-trial processes received widespread support from those working in the sexual violence sector, Butterworth says it is time to start looking at which of these changes can be implemented.

Wellington Rape Crisis provide free counselling and support to survivors of rape and sexual abuse of their families and friends and are lead agencies for the Sexual Abuse Prevention Network who run rape prevention education programmes.

ENDS

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