Rape and sexual assault victims are being turned away from ‘just in case’ forensic testing, taskforce told

Gold Coast sexual assault and rape victims are being turned away from getting forensic examinations because they are not sure if they want to file a police report, according to a taskforce.

Gold Coast sexual assault and rape victims are being turned away from getting forensic examinations because they are not sure if they want to file a police report, according to a submission to the Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce.

The lack of testing surprised the taskforce when it was on the Gold Coast on Friday getting submissions from sexual assault survivors and people who work in the sector.

Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce chair Margaret McMurdo said: “I was surprised to hear, and this is just anecdotal, that some women were reporting at the Gold Coast hospital to have what they call a ‘just in case examination’ which is an examination to preserve DNA evidence when the victim is not sure if she wants to progress the case and they were told they could not do that unless they reported the matter to police,” she said.

Women's Safety and Justice Taskforce chair Margaret McMurdo was surprised by submissions that rape and sexual assault victims were being turned away from “just in case” forensic testing. Picture Glenn Hampson

“That, of course, is against the whole idea of the thing.

“That is surprising and disappointing.”

It was estimated that as many as 87 per cent of sexual assaults were not reported to police.

Ms McMurdo said there were still inconsistencies with how police treated victims.

“We are hearing that you can get a good experience if you have police officers who are well trained in dealing with trauma who are kind and compassionate,” she said.

“Others who are virtually sent away from the station after first contact and don’t pursue the charge at all.

“Of course, for those people if they are again sexually assaulted, having had that negative experience they won’t report.”

When matters were reported to police, support services struggled with a lack of funding to provide some services, Ms McMurdo said

“The Gold Coast domestic violence support workers were not funded sufficiently to look after victims to look after victims throughout the court process, which is a service they would like to provide to ensure the victim can give her best evidence in court,” she said.

Ms McMurdo said it was these types of personal experiences the taskforce wanted to hear about in their latest round of submissions, focusing particularly on sexual violence.

Submissions for the taskforce are open until April 8 and can be made at www.womenstaskforce.qld.gov.au/publications.

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