Lyttelton art curator claims man tried to abduct her

Otago Daily Times

3 days ago

Sarah Amazinnia told a Te Pataka o Rakaihautu Banks Peninsula Community Board meeting in June she believed a man, well-known in the community, had tried to abduct her.
She made a Facebook post about the alleged incident which led to other Lyttelton women sharing their own experiences with predatory behaviour from men.
Amazinnia put together a document with responses from 35 of the women and presented it to the community board in June to advocate for women's safety.
She also told the meeting of the alleged abduction and also contacted the man's hapu, which told him he had to contact his employer.
The employer then stood the man down from his position, which has led to the investigation that starts tomorrow.
The man told The Star the incident did not happen. He said he could not comment further.
Amazinnia did not report the alleged abduction to the police in April, when she says it happened.
When asked by The Star after the June community board meeting why, she replied: "My experience with the police was so poor, I didn't feel like I would get any traction.'
She said she had made up to 30 complaints to police about a man who she said had been stalking her for the past two and a-half years.
Each time he was either spoken to by police or arrested and 'let out on bail', she said.
'It just got to the point where it felt like there wasn't enough of a consequence for that individual to actually stop their behaviour,' she said.
But she told The Star this week she had now 'filed a police report' over the alleged abduction.
She would not say when she filed the report or if she had been spoken to by police since.
The alleged abductor is not the same person Amazinnia says had been stalking her.
Amazinnia told The Star the man asked to meet her in his car to discuss an upcoming project in Lyttelton.
When she met with him, the conversation turned into a 'sexual nature'.
She said he started touching her inappropriately and said they should go for a drive. She said no, but he started to drive off.
Amazinnia said she distracted the man and he stopped the vehicle, where she opened the door and got out. The man drove off.
The man told The Star he and his lawyer were requesting an explanation from the hapu why he has been stood down from his duties on the basis of an accusation.
Amazinnia has set up a working group to look at ways to negate predatory behaviour issues in Lyttelton.
Senior Sergeant Roy Appley spoke to the community board on Monday.
'While I can't say that it absolutely isn't happening, I'm not aware of it (predatory behaviour) to the extent that it seems to have been spoken about on social media,' he said.
He also said the police need to look at why the community board is being made aware of issues and not the police.
Amazinna's concerns have led to kits to test for drink spiking being made available for patrons in some Lyttelton bars and information on predatory behaviour.