The Star: June 15, 2017

The Star 9
News
Latest Christchurch news at www.
Thursday June 15 2017
Sexual assaults highest in Chch
.kiwi
CHRISTCHURCH had the
highest number of sexual assault
cases in the country, police
figures show.
From July 2014 to December
2016, Christchurch had 10,417
cases of victimisation complaints
for acts intended to cause injury.
Nationally, there were 118,732.
Wellington had 4312 cases,
Hamilton with 6063, and Counties-Manukau
West with 5886.
Acting Assistant Commissioner
Sam Hoyle said Christchurch
Metro was ranked top in New
Zealand for sexual assault cases
from mid-2014 to the end of last
year.
Many of the same factors associated
with assaults around the
country were also found in aggravated
sexual assault incidents.
“Central Christchurch, as we
know, is sort of reopening and
reinvigorating and nightlife is
coming back. It hasn’t featured
amongst the data much at all
until the last year or two [due
to the earthquake recovery],”
Acting Assistant Commissioner
Hoyle said.
“These types of sexual assaults
[tend to result from] big groups
of people dispersing from clubs
and pubs in the early hours of
the morning. Generally, these
sexual assaults are not committed
by strangers.”
He said stranger attacks were
still incredibly rare.
In spite of a high number
of hotels and backpackers in
downtown areas, Acting Assistant
Commissioner Hoyle said
there was no evidence to suggest
that tourists were sexual assault
targets.
Historically, he said data suggests
the vast majority of victims
are locals making their way
home through a more dangerous
part of town.
Police said one reason many
sexual assaults are recorded in
downtown Christchurch is because
many crimes are reported
at the Central Police Station, due
to police being unable to determine
an exact location.
Acting Assistant Commissioner
Hoyle said the national stats
were not a surprise and there was
a “strain” on police resources to
help keep the peace.
“If you look at our biggest
CBDs, they all feature around
those common assaults, which
doesn’t surprise me at all.
“Where we have those strong
night-time economies, where
we have big groups of people
all arriving in town at the same
time, often having pre-loaded
before they arrive, and then they
all leave at about the same time
we get people bumping into each
other and that’s where we get the
assaults.
“At four o’clock on a Sunday
morning, there’s not much
around in terms of capable
guardianship, there’s some police
officers, some security, taxi
operators – there’s not that much
else out there in terms of capable
guardians.”
He said often assaults involved
“predominately younger people
[who were] heavily intoxicated.”
He said police “resource-up”
for every Thursday, Friday and
Saturday night, and large events,
to help combat the carnage.
“It does put a strain on, it’s
a busy period for police most
weekends, it’s a busy period
for ambulance staff, it’s a busy
period of ED (emergency department)
staff for all those same
reasons.”
Police statistics also show more
than a third of all offences are
committed by an offender who
has been drinking.
Acting Assistant Commissioner
Hoyle said Wellington’s
inner-city was a hotbed for
violent offences on a Friday or
Saturday night. – NZ Herald
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