Another woman said police spent more time talking to her alleged abuser about rugby than the domestic violence matter she accused him of, an independent inquiry has heard.
A woman with intellectual disabilities who reported a sexual assault to police said detectives “blamed her for wanting to find a boyfriend” and raised concerns about her capacity to have a relationship, an inquiry has heard.
The inquiry on Monday also heard how a man in his 90s, who travelled to a police station at 4am on a mobility scooter after an alleged incident of domestic violence, was also not helped by police, who told him the assault was “a civil matter”. “The detectives made no accommodations to change their communication or to offer additional support around that disability.”Parsons said the woman now had extreme mental health concerns following the incident, and “she’s really scared of the police”.Micah Projects chief executive Karyn Walsh submitted examples of poor interactions the service’s clients had experienced with police, including how some officers sided with abusers.
“In one referral received, officers identified behaviour from the perpetrator, including threats to ‘kill’ the aggrieved, however within the referral, they stated that within the circumstances, the action ‘may have been justified’.” “They told him it was a civil matter, and he ought to go home. There wasn’t any support or referrals provided to him.”