Hamilton rape claim 'made up to get attention'

The "random and calculated" rape of a woman in central Hamilton last week was made up by a Japanese woman attempting to get attention from her ex-boyfriend.

Police said they were manipulated and used by the 21-year-old woman, who claimed she was dragged into a van and raped by a group of men in Ward Ln last Wednesday night.

Chie Ikee, 21, of Matamata, appeared in the Hamilton District Court yesterday afternoon and admitted one charge of making a false complaint.

Ikee said she was distraught at the end of her relationship and she was trying to get sympathy and attention from her ex-partner. Despite Ikee's plan to return to Japan on Monday, Judge Barry Morris convicted her and imposed a one-year suspended sentence.

Meanwhile, Hamilton police have revealed they received another false rape complaint this week, but investigators determined it was bogus within 24 hours. That woman was not prosecuted.

The court was told Ikee went to the Hamilton central police station, accompanied by two friends, to complain that she had been abducted and raped in the central city about midnight.

Two detectives were called in from their homes to investigate her complaint, along with a specialist sexual abuse doctor.

A week later, police re-interviewed Ikee and, after several inconsistencies in her story were pointed out, she admitted she had made up the incident.

Police spent more than 90 hours investigating Ikee's claims and sought $12,378 reparation.

The court was told Ikee had no money for reparation and her mother had paid for her airline ticket home.

Outside court, Detective Senior Sergeant Chris Page, who led the investigation, said police had been "manipulated and used" by Ikee and the other false complainant for their own benefit.

"It's just a slap in the face of all the women who have had to endure these sort of attacks," Mr Page said. "The impact is massive. It's not just the amount of resources it consumes, but that it also impacts on all the genuine complaints, because we have to reprioritise and put other jobs on hold to cover all we need to on the (false) complaint.

"Our policy and practice is to take everything as it's given to us and our normal approach is to do our best for our complainant and do our best to support their complaint. That happened but there wasn't any evidence to support their claims."

Investigations into a home invasion rape in Albert St, and into a serial rapist, continue.

- © Fairfax NZ News