Report finds significant deficiencies in Roast Busters investigation.
Roast Busters: Beraiah Hales and Joseph Parker Photo: Unknown
The original police investigation into the Roast Busters case had a number of significant deficiencies, the Independent Police Conduct Authority has found.
The investigation specifically looked at eight incidents involving seven victims and five suspects but the inquiry involved 110 potential victims and 35 young men linked to the case.
In his report the authority chair Judge Sir David Carruthers said the investigating officers “failed to adhere to the basic tenets of any form of criminal investigation.”
He said the police treated the young women who were subject to the offending and their families with courtesy and compassion, but they breached police policy by not following up or pursuing lines of enquiries. Details of alleged offenders were also not correctly recorded in the police system.
Judge Carruthers said the police also did not check whether the young men had been involved in any previous incidents and as a result were unable to identify any pattern of behaviour or connection between various cases.
From the archives: Unravelling Roast Busters
“Only one of the young men was ever the subject of a referral to CYF.
“In one case, initial suspect interviews were held with the young men, but there was no further contact after that,” he said.
“In the other cases, officers did not speak to the young men or their parents during or at the conclusion of their investigations.”
Judge Carruthers criticised the police for approaching each case on an individual basis.
“[They] saw their task as determining whether there was sufficient evidence to prosecute the alleged offenders for sexual violation,” he said.
"They did not have a prevention focus in mind and did not consider whether either a lesser charge or some other response was required."
He said police should have worked with other agencies to develop preventative strategies and the victims were let down by their failure to do so.
However, despite the failings in this case, Judge Carruthers said the authority has not found any evidence of widespread and poor practice nationally.
“The authority has been advised that since the investigations, the police in Waitemata have introduced a number of safeguards by way of better supervision and oversight of cases.”
He recommended an audit and review of any other practice or policy issues that need to be addressed either nationally or in Waitemata and whether more emphasis is required on prevention.
From the archives: Lessons to be learned
Police commissioner Mike Bush said he accepted the findings of the IPCA report, and that the police had let down the young women at the centre of the allegations.
Although the officers involved tried to do the right thing for the women, “individual poor practice, poor supervision and a lack of focus on connecting the various activities of the young men created the opposite effect,” he said.
Police were developing its national child abuse and adult sexual assault policies to give officers better guidance in that area, as it could be “difficult for officers to balance the wishes of victims with the need to fully investigate serious allegations and prevent future offending.”
A version of this report was first published on radionz.co.nz
