Hunter Valley sexual assaults rise 20% in two years according to latest crime figures stats
Murder, domestic and sexual assault, break and enter, fraud and car theft. SEE ALL THE STATISTIC for the Hunter Valley, Newcastle and Lake Macquarie in latest BOSCAR results.
Newcastle
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It’s an alarming statistic. Sexual assaults in the Hunter Valley have risen almost 20 per cent in the last two years to June.
That’s well above the state average, at 9.4 per cent year-on-year to June, with an additional 59 incidents recorded in the Hunter Valley.
That figure was highlighted in the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research’s (BOCSAR) latest quarterly report, which saw most crime across the state remain stable, except for an upward trend of sexual assaults.
BOCSAR executive director Jackie Fitzgerald said it’s a worrying trend, but it’s not known what that increase can be attributed to.
“We don’t know whether the increase is due to increased reporting or an increase in the prevalence of those incidents,” she said.
“A lot of the increases are actually amongst child victims which is concerning.
“At the state level we’ve been able to determine there’s been an increase in mandatory reporting of child sexual assaults, because there’s been an increase coming to police through the child protection helpline but we can’t rule out increases in other areas.”
Across the Hunter, statistics showed Lake Macquarie was the area that recorded the biggest crime numbers.
Domestic violence related assaults were at a staggering 789 in the past 12 months, followed by Newcastle with 681 - both seeing slight increases - while Maitland dipped to 448 incidents.
Promising were results in property crime and violence trends, which saw big decreases in a number of Hunter areas, which the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to thank for.
“The property crime trends are quite interesting, with the shutdown in April to do with the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw big decreases in a lot of property crime,” Ms Fitzgerald said.
“For the month of April, crime was really quite a lot lower than it ever had been and some haven’t returned to the previous levels like break ins, car theft and retail theft, those figures are still lower than they have ever been.
“In Newcastle and Lake Macquarie we’ve got 260 fewer residential break ins, in the Hunter Valley we’ve got 50 fewer residential break ins in the last year so that’s positive news for those residents.”
Lake Macquarie commander, Superintendent Danny Sullivan APM said the Lake Macquarie area has seen falls in several crime categories.
“It has been a particular focus for the Lake Macquarie command to work with the community’s youth to try and break the cycle of crime from a grassroots level,” he said.
“Assisting with programs at the PCYC and Northlakes Community Collaborative Project has helped steer at-risk teens towards a more positive pathway, also assisting to lower the region’s youth crime rate.”
Retail theft in the Hunter Valley also saw a significant dip, while there were also large decreases of car theft in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie.
THE STATS
Newcastle/Lake Macquarie (last 2 years)
Break and enter dwelling - down 14.9%
Steal vehicle - down 21.8%
Malicious damage to property - down 2.3%
Hunter Valley (excluding Newcastle) (last 2 years)
Sexual assaults - up 19.7%
Break and enter dwelling - down 13.2%
Steal from retail store - 26.4%
Steal from person - 40.2%
Last 12 months (incidents)
Newcastle/Lake Macquarie
Murder - 6
Domestic violence related assaults - 1507
Sexual assaults - 426
Indecent assaults - 478
Robbery with a knife - 7
Robbery with a weapon - 115
Break and enter - 1478
Fraud - 2910
Hunter Valley (excluding Newcastle)
Murder - 4
Domestic violence related assaults - 1372
Sexual assaults - 359
Indecent assaults - 390
Robbery with a weapon - 20
Break and enter dwelling - 1010
Fraud - 1620