Police dismissed sex complaint against disgraced top cop - and then charged woman over her claims
Tuesday, 11 November 2025
A court has lifted suppression orders regarding another criminal case involving former deputy police commissioner Jevon McSkimming - this time, one where he was the complainant.
It can now be reported that an individual was charged under the Harmful Digital Communications Act in relation to emails that accused McSkimming of sexual offending during his time at police.
Those charges have now been withdrawn. No charges were laid against McSkimming for sexual offending.
It comes as the IPCA has released a damning report into the handling of serious complaints made against the former top cop. The 135-page report said there had been “serious failings” by “very senior officers” within Police.
In a statement released to Stuff, the individual’s lawyer, Steven Lack, said Police had “failed” his client.
The charges
Stuff understands the individual accused McSkimming of sexually assaulting her in a series of emails.
However, according to Lack and the IPCA, Police unquestioningly accepted McSkimming’s story of events and laid charges against her instead of investigating the allegations.
“Over a period of years, she attempted to report allegations of serious physical, psychological and sexual offending by 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” her lawyer said.
At the Wellington District Court on Wednesday, Judge Andy Nicholls continued the individual’s name suppression, but noted that McSkimming had not applied for an extension.
“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 chose not to,” Lack said.
“They accepted 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the full weight of the criminal justice system on my client for more than a year until the charges against her were withdrawn.”
The mishandling of the complaints had a “devastating impact” on the woman, Lack said.
“The police were more focused on protecting McSkimming’s career and advancement than on properly addressing serious allegations of offending against him,” he said.
Minister incensed over report
Public Service Minister Judith Collins told reporters on Tuesday the Public Service Commissioner was investigating former police commissioner Andrew Coster, and that he had been put on leave from his role as CEO of Social Investment Agency.
Coster was criticised in the IPCA report for attempting to influence the nature and the extent of the authority’s investigation into the complaints about McSkimming.
“If this was me named in this report, I would be deeply ashamed,” Collins said, describing Coster’s behaviour as “very serious”.
Collins said the IPCA report showed an extraordinary level of agreement among senior officers that allowed the mishandling of the complaints to continue, before taking a question on whether the actions of the officers amounted to corruption.
“Would you say it’s corruption? Well, I think if it walks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, it’s really important,” she said.
“The IPCA did not say that it was corruption. It could. However, when you look at the facts, it’s an extraordinary set of events and extraordinary facts, and it must never happen again.”
McSkimming pleaded guilty to three charges of possessing child sexual exploitation and bestiality material in the Wellington District Court last Thursday.
He will be sentenced next month.