More than half of strangulation cases never reach court
Tuesday, 22 April 2025
For every 100 allegations of what’s known as non-fatal strangulation or suffocation made to police, 48 cases will go to court, 22 will lead to a conviction and just eight will result in an offender being jailed, statistics show.
The Post analysed five years’ worth of data obtained from police and the Ministry of Justice to track how cases related to impeding someone’s breathing and/or circulation move through the justice system.
Those at the coalface of family harm prevention say the figures indicate that the problem is not being taken seriously enough by authorities.
Women’s Refuge chief executive Dr Ang Jury said if the law introduced in 2019 to make strangulation and suffocation a standalone offence was not properly administered, which she believed it wasn’t, “it’s nothing more than paper”.
“There is no better way to control someone than to demonstrate to them that you literally have the power of life and death in your hands… [there’s] no greater tool in the abuser’s toolkit. It needs to be taken far more seriously.”
The Post’s analysis has found:
Fewer than half of 13,600-plus reports of strangulation/suffocation lodged with police between December 2019 and June 2024 were prosecuted
Fewer than half of the 6520 charges that were brought to court led to a conviction
Fewer than half of those 2905 convictions resulted in a sentence of imprisonment
The proportion of cases closed because of “police discretion” or “no further line of enquiry” had increased over time
Jury said, taken together, the statistics indicated “that we got the standalone offence and decided that it was done and dusted and stopped. That's how it feels. I haven't seen any further action on it”.
In her view, calling this kind of crime “non-fatal strangulation” in the first place was a misnomer: “If you strangle someone and they die, it's homicide. So in reality, these non-fatal strangulations are, by definition, attempted homicide”.
“Every time someone impedes someone's breathing, strangles them to the point where they can't breathe or lose consciousness, they could die, as simple as that.”
Rob Veale, a retired detective of 30 years who now runs training sessions on family violence prevention around the country, agreed there were “significant opportunities for improvement” in how strangulation law was being implemented.
Both Veale and Jury wanted to see more public awareness of the dangers of strangulation and suffocation and improved training for police officers so that the frontline knew what evidence to collect when investigation these crimes.
Police said in a statement that prosecuting people for strangulation was “incredibly nuanced”.
“Sometimes, even if an offender may be known to police, the other ingredients necessary to file a prosecution are not there – and/or, an alternative resolution is deemed a more appropriate outcome.”
Police discretion was used to consider fair and equitable outcomes “across the board”, including whether a prosecution was in a victim’s interest, the statement said.
“Victims remain at the heart of our decision-making. In saying that, when there is serious offending identified and enough evidence to prosecute, police will not hesitate to hold offenders to account.”