Police apologise to rape victim for bungled inquiry

11.45am

Police have apologised to the youngest victim of serial rapist Nicholas Reekie, for doubting her word and bungling the investigation which sent the wrong man to jail.

Police have admitted their initial investigation was not up to accepted police standards in a letter to the victim who was 11 at the time of the attack in 1992.

Reekie, 32, was this week sentenced to preventive detention with a minimum non-parole period of 25 years for raping the West Auckland girl and three other women.

David Dougherty served three years in jail for the abduction and rape of the girl before he was acquitted in a retrial when new DNA techniques showed he could not have done the crime.

Detective Inspector Alan Collin told the victim in a letter yesterday police wanted to apologise for any stress they had caused and to thank her for giving evidence in the Reekie trial -- the third time she had given evidence about her abduction and rape.

However, the victim told NZPA today she only learned of a leaked police memo which suggested she had lied a few days after she had given evidence against Reekie.

"If I had known I would have told them politely where to go and, not had anything to do with the Reekie trial.

"Some things you can't undo."

She said although she did not want money, some compensation may be sought.

"I have never really wanted that. I am just happy with an apology.

"I don't really want to have anything to do with it any more.

"I will have to think about it."

The family said the attack had cost them more than $10,000 in the past 10 years.

Mr Collin told the victim police also wanted to apologise for the way her original complaint was investigated.

It was not up to standard and a second police investigation could also have been done better.

"It is easy for me to say some of these things with the benefit of hindsight but I know that comments made in the media regarding the investigation were distressful to your family," he wrote.

"I wish that it was possible for me to turn back the clock and undo some of these matters but clearly I cannot."

In a second letter also delivered yesterday, Detective Inspector Mark Franklin, who led the second police investigation, said he wanted to offer his sincere apologies for the comments he made concerning her integrity in the internal police memo released to the media.

He said he wrote the report for the police legal adviser and did not intend it to be made public.

The comments were intended to signify his strong opinion David Dougherty was not responsible for the crimes, Mr Franklin said in the letter.

"In hindsight my comments may well have been different if I could have discussed some of the issues with you."

"I am sorry for the comments I made expressing reservations about your complaint. Clearly I was wrong."

Mr Franklin said the victim was a very courageous woman.

The victim said the apology would not have been made unless she had demanded it.

She said she had been treated very well by police since before the Reekie trial, particularly by Detective Sergeant Megan Goldie, who was in charge of the Reekie case.

"The police need a lot more Megans."

The victim said she wanted to thank all the people and friends who had supported her.

"One special friend said to me before I went into give evidence 'remember I love you, just remember that' and that helped a lot.

"There were times when I said I wished I had screamed and been dead (killed by her attacker) but she said 'no you made a conscious decision as a child to live. You did what you did to preserve your life and you are special and precious to many people'.

"That made me feel fairly good," she said.

- NZPA