Police lost alleged victim’s call recording in sex-offence case

A recording of a telephone call that a woman gave police during an investigation into an alleged sexual offence was lost and never entered the case file, mbl.is reports. Neither the District Prosecutor nor the State Prosecutor had the recording when the decision was made to drop the case.

The case is detailed in the Ombudsman of Alþingi’s newly published annual report. The Ombudsman completed its examination in June last year.

The woman reported the alleged offence to police and later submitted a recording of a call with the suspect. She believed the call contradicted what he had told police during questioning.

Her legal representative sent the recording to police by email in May 2022. However, the email was not registered in the police case-management system, and neither the message nor the recording was later found among the case documents.

The District Prosecutor therefore did not know about the recording when the case was dropped in September 2023. The woman appealed that decision to the State Prosecutor and specifically drew attention to the recording.

The State Prosecutor did not obtain it either, instead basing its assessment on the legal representative’s description of the call. The office upheld the decision to drop the case in January 2024.

In comments to the Ombudsman, the State Prosecutor said it had not been considered likely that the recording would change the assessment of the evidence. The office nevertheless acknowledged that it would have been preferable to obtain and listen to the recording before making a final decision.

The Ombudsman found no grounds to comment on the decision to drop the case. Its examination nevertheless revealed significant shortcomings in the police investigation.

The Ombudsman instructed the State Prosecutor to draw the attention of the police in the capital region to how the evidence had been handled and, where appropriate, take measures to prevent a repeat.

Other problems also affected the investigation. The woman was interviewed on October 6, 2021, but the suspect was not questioned until March 17, 2022, more than five months later.

The State Prosecutor criticised the delay, saying investigations into rape and other sexual offences should be expedited and given special priority.

Police also did not conduct an examination of the location where the alleged offence was said to have taken place. The Ombudsman agreed with the State Prosecutor’s criticism of both issues, saying the delays and lack of a location examination could have affected what evidence was available when the decision to drop the case was made.