60 rape reports to local cops sex complaints up

Alex de Vos
Complaints of sexual assault have risen 16 per cent over the past year at the region’s major counselling and referral service.
Barwon Centre Against Sexual Assault reported 1000 victims of alleged rape and other sexual assaults had contacted the Geelong centre.
But police statistics show rape reports generally consistent at 60 in the past financial year but overall sexual assault complaints had decreased.
The sex assault centre said 771 new clients had sought help in the year. Eighty-five per cent of complainants were female, 89 per cent knew the perpetrator and 62 per cent of alleged assaults were in victims’ homes.
The centre said over half the alleged victims were aged over 21, 20 per cent were aged between 13 and 21 and 17 per cent were under 12.
Geelong Police sexual offences unit Sergeant Bradley Marks said 279 victims had reported rapes and other sexual assaults compared to 451 in the previous year, a decrease of 38 per cent.
Police “cleared” 222 reports of sexual assaults in the year, while the remaining 57 remained unsolved, he said.
Sgt Marks attributed the disparity between police and sexual assault centre figures to victims’ often being unwilling to go through investigations.
“Reporting the assaults to the police is quiet a lengthy process and not everyone wants to go through that,” Sergeant Marks said.
He encouraged victims to report assaults to police “at the first available instance”.
“It helps us with our investigations and the solving rate is a lot higher if the crime is reported straight away because over time the evidence diminishes,” he said.
“But it’s never too late.”