Paula Bennett went large on the Labour sex-pest story. She said she believed the complainants and demanded that the Prime Minister act.
The only problem with all that is that there wasn’t actually a complaint. The review has found that the Labour staffer was a bit of a dick and a bit over-bearing and rude, but that’s it:
The Labour Party inquiry into a former staffer’s alleged sexual assault has found that the allegation cannot be substantiated.
The report found inconsistencies in the alleged victim’s versions of events – particularly with regards to an email sent to the party.
It could not establish other allegations of sexual assault against the staffer but could substantiate complaints about “aggressive and overbearing” conduct, however this did not meet a criminal standard of bullying.
The man at the centre of these allegations said in a statement that the report made clear the “serious allegations did not happen.”
“As the report states, the serious allegations made against me are untrue. The information, witness statements, and messages considered by Maria Dew QC provided compelling evidence to support this finding.”
[…] Lawyer Maria Dew conducted the inquiry independently for the Labour Party after the allegation was made public earlier this year. It involved interviews with the staffer, five alleged victims, and 16 others, as well as a review of over 28,000 Facebook messages and texts between the alleged victim and staffer.
The executive summary was released on Wednesday afternoon after being received by the party on Tuesday evening.
The staffer at the centre of the allegations has since resigned, but will not lose his party membership or face any other party disciplinary actions as a result of the report.
He accepted as part of the inquiry that his behaviour had been “too overbearing and aggressive” at times and that he had made comments of a sexual nature to three female complainants.
That’s it. None of the lurid accusations made were true. Yes, he was a bit of a dick, but who in politics isn’t?
The report says that the victim’s account of the alleged sexual assault “was incorrect in several critical respects in relation to the events of that evening”.
It noted that the alleged victim and staffer had been in a consensual relationship for eight months at the time, but Dew noted that prior sexual consent did not mean consent was continuous.
“However, [alleged victim’s] recollection of material events about the evening in February 2018 was clearly incorrect. Her allegation was also inconsistent with her own numerous contemporaneous Facebook messages with the respondent during that month and in surrounding months.”
The alleged victim accepted as part of the investigation that she had provided misleading information to the investigation itself and the party about an email sent in early March of 2019.
The report noted that the alleged victim maintained her relationship with the staffer was damaging and that there is evidence she reported her allegation in March of 2018.
This email was alleged to have contained an attachment detailing the alleged assault, but the report found that on “the balance of probabilities” it did not.
Stuff
Right, so what we have here is a ‘scorned woman’ situation, blown massively out of proportion by vested interests seeking to score a political scalp.
I think Paula owes a series of Labour people an apology. She went large on this, but it has turned out to be a busted flush.
Paula Bennett needs to pick up a dictionary and look up the word sorry. It’s not hard to find. It’s between the words ‘shit’ and ‘syphilis’.
This isn’t the first time that she has hurled accusations either. She’s now done it to:
- Jami-Lee Ross (claims of up to 15 complaints)
- Matt King (stared her down)
- 2 x National staffers who have left
- 1 x Labour staffer who has left.
All were “there are sexual allegations against them from women, I can’t tell you what they are, but I believe them”. Except that they never exist. No evidence is produced and the complainants either made stuff up, work in Paula’s office or are women scorned seeking revenge.
The executive summary makes it abundantly clear that this was not a cover up and that there simply was no evidence to back up allegations.
The only question remaining is whether or not Paula Bennett will apologise.