Police warning to women over false rape claims

Hamilton police warn that anyone who makes a false rape complaint, which wastes valuable time and resources, runs the risk of prosecution.

The warning comes as a woman appears in Hamilton District Court this morning charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice, arising from rape complaint made last November.

Detective Senior Sergeant Chris Page said the Hamilton woman claimed she was raped after an offender forced his way into her flat but this was proved to be untrue.

"A large amount of police and ESR resources and time was put into the investigation," he said.

"The media coverage of this incident was significant as police dealt with a number of rape allegations at that time. This case has proven to be the third false complaint from that week."

Mr Page said he was disappointed the time of specialist doctors who were called out, ESR forensic experts and detectives had been wasted.

"It's even more frustrating when real complaints had been put to one side to deal with this and other similar allegations at the time.

"The detrimental impact is far reaching and precious investigation time cannot afford to be wasted.

"Instances such as this are an insult to those real victims who police work closely with," he said.

Mr Page said Operation Phil, the Hamilton serial rape case, was not affected by this and continued to be investigated.

"Those three complaints that make up Operation Phil remain valid and detectives are committed to locating the offender," he said.

 - NZPA