Police lost victim’s recording in sexual offence investigation

Police lost a telephone recording submitted by a woman investigating an alleged sexual offence, and it was never included in the case file, mbl.is reports.

Neither the district prosecutor nor the Director of Public Prosecutions had the recording when the case was dismissed. Police also failed to conduct a scene examination, while more than five months passed between the woman’s statement and the suspect’s questioning.

The details appear in the recently published annual report of the Parliamentary Ombudsman, who completed the investigation in June last year.

Recording was not registered

The woman reported the alleged sexual offence to police and later provided a recording of a telephone 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 email nor the recording was later found in the case files.

The district prosecutor therefore had no knowledge of the recording when the decision was made to dismiss the case in September 2023. The woman appealed the decision to the Director of Public Prosecutions and specifically drew attention to the recording.

The Director of Public Prosecutions did not obtain it, instead basing its assessment on the woman’s legal representative’s description of the call. The office confirmed the dismissal in January 2024.

Prosecutor acknowledged recording should have been obtained

In its response to the Parliamentary Ombudsman, the Director of Public Prosecutions said it had not been considered likely that the recording would change the assessment of the evidence.

However, the office acknowledged that it would have been preferable to obtain and listen to the recording before making a final decision.

The Parliamentary Ombudsman said there were no grounds to criticise the decision to dismiss the case. The investigation nevertheless revealed serious shortcomings in the police investigation.

The ombudsman instructed the Director of Public Prosecutions to draw the attention of the Reykjavík Metropolitan Police to how the evidence had been handled and, where appropriate, take measures to prevent a recurrence.

Delay and no scene examination

Other aspects of the investigation had also gone wrong.

The woman gave her statement on October 6, 2021, but the suspect was not questioned until March 17, 2022, more than five months later.

The Director of Public Prosecutions criticised the delay and said investigations into rape and other sexual offences should be expedited and given particular priority.

Police also failed to examine the scene where the alleged offence was said to have taken place.

The Parliamentary Ombudsman agreed with the criticism of both points, saying the delays and lack of a scene examination could have affected what evidence was available when the decision was made to dismiss the case.