Indigenous justice: Mother Allyson Sullivan thrown in jail for protecting her children

Allyson Sullivan was duct-taped, thrown in a river, dragged behind a car and forcibly ­injected with ice. Yet when she reported her abuser, she was the one thrown in jail.

Victim Allyson Sullivan was forced to retract her complaint against her abusive partner out of fear he would kill her children and her mother. Picture: Robert Klarich

Duct-taped, thrown in a river, dragged behind a car, forcibly ­injected with ice, unknowingly filmed and beaten-up.

Those are just some of the ways Allyson Sullivan says she was ­tortured and abused by her partner of more than two decades.

Ms Sullivan, an Indigenous woman from western NSW, was terrified to report her de facto to the police. He told her he would kill her children or her mum if she ever complained.

So when she eventually did, in late 2007, she never thought she would have been the one left ­crying on the cold hard ground of the Wellington Correctional Centre.

“Police used to just say all the time, you’ve got to speak up,” she told The Australian, recalling how she sat with police and told them her story as they took notes and photographed her injuries.

“I thought I would be strong and report him.”

Ms Sullivan’s partner was arrested and charged with common assault and other related offending. Following his arrest, he told Ms Sullivan he would leave her and their three children alone … but on one condition.

“He turned around and he said he would leave town and leave me alone if I told the police it wasn’t him,” she said.

“I went to the police station and said I wanted to withdraw it.”

Allyson Sullivan in 2013.

Ms Sullivan attended Dubbo police station on January 22, 2008, and told officers she had made a false complaint.

She told them “the day in question had been taken out of context” and requested her partner be released.

She was placed under arrest and charged with making a false statement to police under section 314 of the NSW Crimes Act.

In the hearing that ensued, she entered a not guilty plea, but was found guilty and sentenced to 18 months in prison with a non-parole period of six months.

While waiting for an urgent District Court appeal hearing, Ms Sullivan spent three days in Wellington prison. She was strip-searched on arrival.

Ms Sullivan first told her story to The Australian 10 years ago.

At the time, NSW police promised to conduct a full-scale review into the way officers handle instances of domestic violence victims retracting their complaints.

There is no evidence that the specific review was ever conducted. And, as The Australian reveals on Friday, women like Ms Sullivan are continuing to suffer.

“The NSW Police Force continuously reviews its standard operating procedures for domestic violence,” a NSW Police spokesperson told The Australian, when asked about the review.

“The changes affect how general-duties police, Domestic Violence Liaison Officers and prosecutors approach their respective duties when dealing with domestic violence incidents and AVO applications before, during, and after the court proceedings have been finalised.”

Ms Sullivan worries her daughter may now be a victim of domestic violence, and is terrified that what happened to her could continue on through generations.

“It is disgusting that this is still going on,” Ms Sullivan said.

“They have to realise the system is broken. We know how many women die a year from domestic violence. The frightening thing is you do what the law says and it just doesn’t work. That’s why people retract their statements or are too frightened in court because they know things can get worse.

“I’ve got grandkids now. The cycle has to stop.”