Source: Radio New Zealand
Former Deputy Police Commissioner Jevon McSkimming. POOL
A lawyer for a woman who accused former Deputy Police Commissioner Jevon McSkimming of sexual offending says police failed his client by dismissing her complaints and ultimately prosecuting her for speaking out.
The allegations arose from an affair between McSkimming and the woman who at the time was a junior non-sworn police employee.
The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found serious misconduct at the highest levels of police including former Commissioner Andrew Coster in relation to how police responded to the claims.
An internal report in February 2024 identified that emails allegedly sent by the woman raised potential criminal and Police Code of Conduct concerns relating to McSkimming and recommended referring them to the National Integrity Unit and IPCA with a view to possible investigation.
But this didn’t happen instead the only investigation focused on potential offences by the woman under the Harmful Digital Communications Act.
The woman was charged in May last year with causing harm by posting digital communication in relation to over 300 emails she allegedly sent to McSkimming’s work email address between December 2023 and April 2024.
The emails included abusive and derogatory language directed towards McSkimming and other people.
The charge against the woman was withdrawn in the Wellington District Court in September because McSkimming did not wish to give evidence.
However, a suppression order on McSkimming’s identity as a complainant remained until it was lifted on Tuesday.
In a statement to RNZ, the woman’s lawyer Steven Lack, said police “failed my client”.
“Over a period of years, she attempted to report allegations of serious physical, psychological and sexual offending by Mr McSkimming, then one of the most senior Police Officers in the country. Instead of being heard, she was dismissed and ultimately prosecuted for speaking out and raising her concerns.
“At every stage, the Police had the opportunity to engage with her, to properly assess what she was saying, and to investigate her allegations. They could have viewed her as a traumatised victim. They chose not to. They accepted Mr McSkimming’s denials without meaningful inquiry and placed the full weight of the criminal justice system on my client for more than a year until the charge against her was withdrawn. Understandably this has had a devastating impact on her.
“The way her complaints were handled should alarm all New Zealanders. It suggests that the Police were more focused on protecting Mr McSkimming’s career and advancement than on properly assessing serious allegations of offending against him.”
Lack said the police were an organisation “entrusted by the community to protect and serve”.
“In my client’s case, they did neither.
The report
The Independent Police Conduct Authority earlier announced it was investigating allegations of misconduct by McSkimming following a complaint from a member of the public.
“This comprises oversight of a police investigation into whether there has been any criminal wrongdoing by Mr McSkimming and a review of whether there has been any related non-criminal misconduct.”
It was also investigating if there was misconduct or neglect of duty by any other police officers or employees in the course of responding to the allegations.
The final report was shown to a group of people on 24 October.
It is yet to be released publicly due to a suppression order that lifted today in relation to a charge that was laid against the woman who accused McSkimming of sexual misconduct.
An affidavit filed by the IPCA in opposition to the suppression and obtained by RNZ, outlines a summary of the IPCA’s investigation.
The allegations of sexual misconduct arose from a sexual relationship between the woman and McSkimming that began in 2016 and 2017.
McSkimming was 42 at the time, and the woman was about 20 years younger.
After the relationship ended towards the end of 2017, specific allegations against McSkimming appeared in an anonymous Facebook post in 2018.
The allegations were not picked up by police or the IPCA because neither had systems in place at the time to identify them as a possible complaint.
However, the IPCA had identified a number of serious failings in the subsequent response to the woman’s complaints during 2023 and early 2024, before police took preliminary steps to investigate in mid 2024.
The failings included neither McSkimming nor Coster adequately disclosing to the Public Service Commission the sexual relationship between McSkimming and the woman and the allegations, during the appointment process for statutory Deputy Commissioner in early 2023.
In April 2023, further allegations apparently made by the woman were tagged to the Police LinkedIn announcement that McSkimming had been appointed as a statutory Deputy Commissioner.
The IPCA’s affidavit said there was no consideration of the need for an investigation.
The affidavit included several extracts from three specific complaints against McSkimmming made via the Police 105 online reporting portal in late April 2024.
The complaints claimed to come from McSkimming himself but contained allegations of sexual offending by him.
They accused McSkimming of sexual misconduct, including an allegation that he threatened to provide an intimate visual recording to other people if the woman made a complaint about him and that he misused police resources, including a police credit card, in connection with the sexual relationship.
Once again, the IPCA found a number of serious failings in the way in which the police responded to those complaints and undertook a preliminary investigation.
The IPCA was not notified in accordance with normal processes, there was an “unacceptable delay” in initiating an investigation, which effectively did not commence until July, and the terms of reference were “inappropriately worded” and did not comply with Police Adult Sexual Assault policy.
It wasn’t until October 2024, that the police notified the IPCA. It was then, the authority said that senior officers made attempts to influence its investigation.
“Those attempts were perceived by some others within police as an attempt to bring the investigation to a rapid and premature conclusion so as not to intersect with the Commissioner appointment process and jeopardise McSkimming’s prospects of being appointed as the next Commissioner of Police.”
McSkimming was placed on “special leave” as the IPCA began its investigation in November.
The following month, police began a criminal investigation into that allegation. McSkimming was formally suspended on 23 December.
It was during that investigation that police found the objectionable material on his work devices and a second criminal investigation began.
The report did not find that the senior officers colluded in the way in which they responded to the complaints, but it did conclude that there was serious misconduct by a “significant number of very senior officers” and other senior police employees that had “undermined the integrity of the organisation as a whole”.
“Those findings were made in respect of, among others, the then Commissioner, a Deputy Commissioner, two Assistant Commissioners, and a Detective Superintendent.”
The IPCA said police failed to act on the allegations the woman made, and instead focused only on her actions.
There should have been parallel, but connected investigations. This did not occur until well after she had been charged.
“In essence, police officers and employees dealing with the matters displayed an inability to balance a proper concern for Mr McSkimming and his family in relation to the harassing emails, with the need to consider that the emails contained complaints of potential misconduct by Mr McSkimming that needed to be investigated.”
The IPCA found this partly occurred because officers “simply accepted without question the narrative presented to them by Mr McSkimming”.
The IPCA concluded that the current structures and processes to protect the integrity of policing were inadequate and had recommended that several significant changes, both internal and external to police, were required.
In September, Police announced McSkimming would not be charged in relation to the allegations of sexual misconduct.
Assistant Commissioner Mike Johnson said Police had completed its investigation into allegations against a former senior police member.
“The investigation concluded that the evidential test for prosecution had not been met, therefore no charges will be laid.
Johnson said the investigation and decision not to charge were independently reviewed by a King’s Counsel and peer reviewed by a Crown Law appointed barrister.
“The investigation was thorough and led by a Detective Superintendent. It had independent engagement throughout from the IPCA and a Crown Law appointed barrister.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
