Tania Billingsley. Picture / 3 News. A young woman who asked to have her name suppression lifted so she could speak out about New Zealand’s rape culture has highlighted the lack of specialist services for survivors of sexual assault from all different communities, including queer and trans people. Tania Billingsley, 21, says Murray McCully should resign over the handling of her case, after her alleged attacker, Malaysian diplomat Muhammad Rizalman bin Ismail, was allowed to leave the country. “Mixed messages” from a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official meant Rizalman was able go home, despite facing charges of assault with intent to commit rape, and burglary. After asking for her automatic right to name suppression to be waived, Billingsley has issued a statement via 3News about how her case has been handled - and on how New Zealand treats victims of sexual violence. “All sorts of people in our country are victims of sexual assault – not only women but men, people of other marginalised gender identities, children, queer people, people in our varied ethnic and cultural communities, people with disability,” Billingsley says. “Not only do we need more funding in general around ending violence, we also need to acknowledge and support the need for specialist services for all survivors in all different communities. In what I have been speaking about I do not want to dismiss these people's experiences, but I can only speak from my own.” Read her full statement here
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Thursday, 10th July 2014 - 11:07am