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‘An explanation, Andy’: Survivors call on Coster to speak out over McSkimming scandal

Thursday, 13 November 2025

Andrew Coster, the former police commissioner, is under pressure to explain his actions in the Jevon McSkimming case, labelled a cover up.
Andrew Coster, the former police commissioner, is under pressure to explain his actions in the Jevon McSkimming case, labelled a cover up.

A young woman did all she could to raise serious sexual offending allegations about one of their top cops, Jevon McSkimming.

At first she was ignored, with McSkimming, who was rising through the ranks and 19 years her senior, passing her off to his police colleagues as a jilted ex-lover sending harassing emails.

Even her attempts to contact police ministers were blocked by police headquarters. When her emails became too many, she was investigated and prosecuted.

And when concerns about McSkimming were eventually referred to the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA), former Police Commissioner Andrew Coster tried to persuade the body to expedite its investigation and “exercise influence over the conduct of a serious criminal investigation for the purpose of ensuring it did not interfere with [McSkimming’s] job application process”.

The IPCA report, released on Tuesday, found serious misconduct at the highest levels within police over how it handled the woman’s allegations against McSkimming, the former deputy commissioner.

The woman was failed by police over a number of years which has had a devastating impact on her, says her lawyer Steven Lack.

“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the full weight of the criminal justice system on my client for more than a year until the charge against her was withdrawn.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.”

All New Zealanders should be alarmed by the way her complaints were handled as it suggests police were more focused on protecting McSkimming’s career than assessing allegations of offending, said Lack.

“The police are an organisation entrusted by the community to protect and serve. In my client’s case, they did neither.“

Sexual violence survivor advocate Louise Nicholas says the man at the top needs to explain his actions.

Nicholas made rape accusations against police officers in the 1980s which were covered up. She told The Post the IPCA findings were “truly disturbing”.

“When you've gone through it yourself, and then you think they've got it right, and you know they have 90% of the time.

“But that’s where I've got so angry - it wasn't just the copper on the beat or anything like that. It was actually a deputy commissioner with his people around him that have done all this.”

Coster has been put on leave from his role as the head of the Social Investment Agency and gone to ground. All the public has heard from him is a two sentence statement from a spokesperson:

“As has been publicly noted by ministers, this is now an employment conversation between the Public Service Commissioner and Andrew Coster. He will not be responding to media ahead of that process.”

Nicholas says that’s not good enough.

“An explanation as to what actually happened here, Andy? Everyone knows what McSkimming did. That’s obvious. But what part did you play and why did you play it?

“I think everyone should be given the opportunity to hear his reasonings behind it.”

The fallout of the IPCA reverberated through Parliament on Wednesday, with an urgent debate in the House, and ministers grilled about who knew what, and when.

Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis said immediately after reading the IPCA report she called Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche, who is ultimately Coster’s employer, to relay her concerns. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said it was good Coster had been put on leave.

Executive director of sexual abuse prevention and survivor support organisation HELP Auckland, Kathryn McPhillips, also says the public deserve more from Coster.

“I understand that it's an employment matter, and so you know that puts certain legal things on it, but absolutely he was held up as a defender of the disadvantaged or the people who needed support.

“I think that lots of people will be shocked at his role in this, having had much higher expectations of him.”

Both Nicholas and McPhillips are worried that the revelations could lead to sexual violence survivors not trusting police if they came forward.

“I get a bit wound up, because this is what has worried me, is that this is what could possibly happen, and we don't want that,” says Nicholas.

“We want them to know that you can come to police, you are going to be safe, you are going to be heard, and police will do the best that they can for you in an investigation, whatever that looks like.”

Nicholas wanted the 21 recommendations from the IPCA report implemented in a “slow and steady” pace.

“Please don’t rush it … They want to be seen to be doing the right thing quickly but it’s doing the right thing steadily.”

McPhillips said she too hoped the IPCA findings wouldn’t deter sexual violence survivors in coming forward.

“I really understand that it would be knocked because our confidence has been knocked as well,” she said.

“But I have to say that the people that we work with locally, the police who are at the front line working with victims, interviewing victims. We do have trust in those police officers.”

McPhillips says she would also like to see better training in the dynamics of sexual violence for police officers included as part of the response.

Where to get help for sexual violence