Air Force inquiry head slates courts' treatment of sex attack victims

Sunday, 18 November 2018

The Recruit: Until now, she was a nameless airwoman seeking accountability for years of abuse in the Air Force. Now, Mariya Taylor speaks out.

The head of an independent inquiry into Defence Force sex attacks has called for radical change to the way the justice system tries sexual violence.

Queen's Counsel Frances Joychild is speaking out after former airwoman Mariya Taylor became the fourth victim of Air Force predator Sergeant Robert Roper to waive her name suppression in order to tell how she was treated when she complained to military top brass.

Taylor, a former airwoman at Auckland's Whenuapai air base, is suing Roper and the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF). A High Court judge has agreed she was ogled, groped and repeatedly locked in a cage by Roper, but found she had left it too late to file a claim. The Defence Force and Roper are now asking her to pay more than $200,000 in costs; she is appealing.

Sergeant Robert Roper would leer and ogle at Mariya Taylor when he inspected the Air Force Motor Services Division. She was terrified.

Joychild's 2017 report is heavily critical of the NZDF and its culture, which allowed Roper's behaviour to go unchallenged. She says the justice system's responses to women and girls' complaints about Roper shows New Zealand must move towards an inquisitorial system, where a wider brief would allow better access to the truth. This would ensure 'the rights and the welfare of victims of sexual violence are protected'.

* Groped and locked in cage, servicewoman speaks out

Mariya Taylor say the Defence Force lawyers made her 'feel like a criminal' on the witness stand, as they argued against accountability for sex attacks committed by Air Force Sergeant Robert Roper.

* Survivors: 'Old school' military won't change

* #MeTooNZ: The investigations**

Frances Joychild QC has called for radical change in how the justice system tries sexual violence.

Taylor was interviewed by Joychild as part of the inquiry, and said this week it was the first time she felt anyone in authority was listening to her.

In the High Court, though, she felt the NZDF 'fought me tooth and nail'. She revealed: 'I felt like an absolute criminal in court being questioned when they knew the answers.'

Mariya Taylor was just 18-year-old when she signed up for basic training at Whenuapai air base, excited at the idea of a career in the Air Force.

Joychild agreed: the prosecution-v-defence, complaint-v-respondent court system was broken. 'In my view the adversarial system is far less effective,' Joychild said. 'It has failed miserably. We have to try another way.'

Taylor's case was an example of how the adversarial system – where complainants are subject to cross examination and the evidential parameters are often restricted – was failing victims of sexual assault. 'She was in an adversarial hearing, and the truth does not always come out,' Joychild said.

The system needed to change to ensure the rights and welfare of victims of sexual harassment were better protected.

Joychild pointed to the findings of the independent inquiry she conducted into the processes of the force, at its request, after Roper was convicted on 20 counts of sexual offending. Those findings show that Mariya Taylor and a number of her fellow airwomen and men had complained to their air force superiors in the 1970s and 80s, but 'there were no investigation processes undertaken into any complaints'.

The report, held back by the NZDF until after Taylor's High Court case, concluded it had tolerated Roper's sexual behaviour.

Former Air Force Sergeant Robert Roper is in jail, convicted of sexually assaulting five women and girls.

'My method was an inquisitorial one, I was able to have a much wider brief, and was therefore able to get to the truth much better,' Joychild said.

The Complaint: Mariya Taylor says she complained repeatedly of the sexual assaults by Sergeant Robert Roper – but the Defence Force swept them under the carpet (video first published November 2018).

Inquisitorial systems are used in France, the Netherlands and a number of other countries; adversarial systems are used in the UK, the US and most Commonwealth nations.

In defending Taylor's claim in the High Court, counsel for the NZDF denied any knowledge of systematic inappropriate behaviour by Roper, and said there was no evidence Taylor had suffered trauma as a result of her experiences.

Justice Rebecca Edwards' ruling matched the Joychild report in part, finding Taylor was telling the truth and that Roper had groped her breasts and thighs as she drove him home, had repeatedly locked her in a cage, and poked her buttocks with a tyre iron. Edwards also found there was a connection between that abuse, and the post-traumatic stress disorder Taylor was diagnosed with two years ago.

Mariya Taylor as a young airwoman, serving at Whenuapai Air Force base.

However, Taylor lost the case as her claim fell outside the six-year constraint imposed by the Limitation Act – the time allowed in law to bring such claims to court. That meant the court did not have to consider whether or not the NZDF bore any liability. Justice Edwards also found there was insufficient evidence to show that Mariya Taylor had complained to the Air Force about Roper.

Taylor is now facing a demand for more than $200,000 in court costs: $57,000 demanded by Roper, who is serving a 13 year jail sentence for the repeated rape and sexual assault of his daughters and others; $154,000 demanded by the Defence Force.

A lengthy Stuff investigation has found the NZDF spent more than $600,000 of taxpayers' money fighting Taylor's case.

The Report and the Trial: High Court says Air Force Sergeant Robert Roper groped Mariya Taylor then locked her in a tyre cage and assaulted her.

Official Information Act requests reveal the numbers of military personnel investigated for criminal sexual offending are high – and rising. In the first four months of this year alone, the NZDF received reports of 32 offences, including film and publication offences, indecent acts, indecent assaults and sexual violations. That's an increase on the 25 incidents investigated in 2016, and 31 in 2017. They acknowledge the real figures are likely to be far higher.

Lieutenant-Colonel Karl Cummins, who leads the NZDF's Respect operation to crack down on sexual harassment, said any behaviour or action that gave rise to a well-founded allegation was investigated – but they still needed to improve. 'We can be better, we know we can.'

The Joychild Report was handed to NZDF in July 2017. It showed the force could be in no doubt as to the state of affairs in the Motor Transport Division at Whenuapai in the 1980s. Nine women were interviewed and all said they had either been harassed or assaulted by Roper, had seen him harass and assault others or had received complaints from young women of him assaulting or harassing them. Male interviewees reported that women complained of being uncomfortable around Roper.

It concluded Roper's behaviour happened because of several factors, all within the NZDF's control. Those were; a tolerance of sexualised behaviour; tolerance of misuse of power and bullying by Roper of lower ranks in the division; a heavy drinking culture; a hierarchical structure that punished juniors making complaints against seniors, and the fact the officer in charge was young and inexperienced, whereas the real de facto power in the division was held by a tight group that included Roper.

The report concluded that complaints had been made about Roper, but nothing effective was done because the NZDF's own culture condoned the behaviour.

Defence Minister Ron Mark said he would be watching closely to ensure the NZDF addresses sexual harassment in its ranks. 'I'd like to encourage both men and women, who have been, or are being sexually assaulted, or harassed, to come forward and report what happened,' he said.

CROWDFUNDING TO HELP PAY LEGAL FEES

Talia Canvin and Mariya Taylor first met on a parenting group chat website. Canvin says Taylor's friendship – online and then in person when Canvin and her family moved to Queensland from New Zealand – has inspired her to set up a Givealittle page for Taylor as she tries to find a way pay her legal bills.

'Mariya helped us settle in here and she has always had time for a chat when I needed support. When she eventually told me about what she went through I felt so awful for her – sick to my stomach', Canvin says.

'Mariya deserves so much more respect than the New Zealand Defence Force has shown her. No-one should have to go through something like that, and then to have it hidden away so deep inside that you never know when it's going to show up.'

Canvin says she accepts that the target – $95,000 – is a steep one with no guarantees, and that they will be relying on the generosity of ordinary Kiwis.

'But I really wanted to help in some way, so I thought that starting a page may just ease the burden a bit.'