On Tuesday the cops visited to tell me they couldn’t take action on the sexual assault because I didn’t report it until after he called the cops on me on October 30th last year (and because my trauma made me panic laugh after the assault).
After telling me this, they finally wrote down the Crimestoppers report number from my complaint filed online on the 28th and then refiled over the phone on the 29th.
The first time I tried to give police this reference number was when they visited to warn me off ‘threatening’ him.
That cop said she wouldn’t “waste her time reading it”.
I have mentioned it every time I’ve spoken to them since but not a single cop has looked at that report.
The case was closed till I gave them this. Probably still is.
The detective asked me to stay quiet next time until the cops have finished their investigations.
I laughed and laughed and laughed and said no.
NSW Police Force don’t care about sex crimes. They don’t listen when we talk, write short and lazy statements, and then blame us for what is left out.
In 1997, two cops in Newtown refused to take a statement from me about a rape because I was addicted to heroin and wearing my sex work clothes when the assault happened.
They told me “no court will take you seriously”.
Nearly 25 years later and they’re saying “no court will take you seriously because you laughed after the assault and told him you were reporting him to the police”.
In 2014-6, a court did take me seriously. Then the court was closed, convictions not recorded, and the whole case suppressed to protect the sexual health organisation we both worked for.
I’m breaching that order just saying I was a victim.
There needs to be a better way of doing this.
Angela J Williams 