'Better system needed to handle sex abuse cases'

An activist group says women are made to recount their abuse details to police several times and sometimes to male officers. Image: Shutterstock

A group which helps women who suffer sexual abuse has criticised the current police mechanism for handling reports of such crimes, saying some victims are made to repeat their accounts repeatedly, and sometimes to male officers.



This accusation was made by the Association Concerning Sexual Violence Against Women which spoke at a meeting of the Legislative Council's welfare services panel on Monday about how to provide better crisis support for sexual violence victims.



A spokeswoman of the association, Jacey Kan, said their statistics show many victims have to recount their experiences seven or eight times and sometimes to male officers. She attributed this to a lack sensitivity on the part of the police.



"Although the protocol says that these cases are to be handled by female officers, our experiences is this is not necessarily so," said Kan.



When her association addressed the lawmakers, some opposition members raised questions about what would happen if the abuser in a case was a police officer.



Kan said it would be hard for a victim to make a report to the police in such circumstances, as they could suspect the officers taking down their complaint were friends of the perpetrator.



She also told RTHK's Candice Wong that there should be a single window approach where victims are provided with medical, forensic, legal and counselling services all at the same place.