Former Deputy Police Commissioner Jevon McSkimming admitted guilt in the Wellington District Court to three representative counts of possessing objectionable publications, specifically child sexual exploitation and bestiality material, with knowledge or reasonable cause to believe that the material was objectionable.
The allegations stemmed from a sexual relationship between McSkimming, who was 40 years old at the time, and a 21-year-old complainant.
Despite the findings regarding the handling of sexual misconduct allegations against then Deputy Commissioner Jevon McSkimming by many senior officers, the Independent Police Conduct Authority also recognised the commendable integrity and moral courage demonstrated by certain officers.
Officer M
Officer M, who B2B News understands to be Detective Superintendent Kylie Schaare, became involved after a senior officer called her about an anonymous post on LinkedIn announcing McSkimming and Tania Kura as Deputy Commissioners.
The anonymous poster claimed that McSkimming had sexually assaulted at least one police employee on police premises and issued threats to harm people.
Schaare, who was the Senior Professional Conduct Manager at the time, directly communicated with Kura and sent her an email regarding the matter.
Kura instructed Officer M to reach out to the police media team to arrange the removal of the post. She subsequently spoke with Officer P, the Acting Director of Integrity and Conduct, emphasising that the matter needed to be referred to the IPCA.
“It is conceivable that Ms Z’s complaint may never have been heard, and the IPCA may never have been made aware of the concerning developments during 2024,” the IPCA said.
Officer M escalated her concerns all the way to then Commissioner Andrew Coster.
“When she felt her concerns were not being heeded, she sought out support in elevating the matter. We commend her moral courage.”
After Ms Z was arrested and charged under the Harmful Digital Communications Act, Officer M said she received a call from Officer B, a senior police officer.
“I asked [Officer B] what the scope of the… investigation was. I raised the concern with [Officer B] that it didn’t appear to me that anyone had treated [Ms Z] as a complainant and offered to take a statement of complaint from her, particularly given they knew who she was… I recall [Officer B] stating that the officers who arrested her asked if she wanted to make a complaint; my response was, ‘Why would she make a complaint to the officers who have just arrested her? Of course she wouldn’t have trust to speak to them.’ …”
“It was clear to me that [Ms Z] had never been spoken to as a potential victim given the emails and the concerns she was mentioning….”
Following the phone call, she contacted her supervisor, the Deputy Commissioner of People, Leadership and Culture, to share her concerns.
In the months that followed, Officer M forwarded an email from the IPCA to the Deputy Commissioner of People, Leadership and Culture.
She said the complaints had not been “progressed through the usual complaint process”.
“I am not aware that we have ever spoken to the complainant, as we would in the normal course of events of this nature, particularly given how long ago it has been that this information has come to light.”
Officer D
Approximately a month after Ms Z was charged, Deputy Commissioner Tania Kura and an Assistant Commissioner agreed to investigate whether the allegations in the emails sent to McSkimming were valid. Officer D was appointed to lead this inquiry.
B2B News understands that Officer D is Detective Inspector Nicola Reeves, one of the most senior investigators specialising in adult sexual assault cases in the country.
“Any number of those people who received those emails should have…we (the police) should have been looking at it right from the beginning…she’s essentially just emailing into the abyss…people get desperate,” Officer D told the IPCA about those messages.
“I was essentially being asked to get a feel for the veracity of the complaint without actually speaking to the complainant. It just didn’t feel right.”
“…[I] really got the sense that [Assistant Commissioner A’s] focus was on getting this out of the way so [Deputy Commissioner McSkimming] could apply for the Commissioner’s role without this hanging over his head,” Officer D told the IPCA.
The IPCA asked Officer V—who B2B News understands is Territorial Detective Superintendent Darryl Sweeney—about the terms of reference. He responded that it was “clear that Ms Z was a potential sexual assault complainant and should have been treated as such.”
Officer V said he was “so concerned” by what Officer D shared with him that he approached two other territorial detective superintendents to discuss the matter.
Ms Z was in direct contact with Officer D in September 2024.
“Notwithstanding the progress in speaking directly with Ms Z, the enquiry led by Officer D was closed down by the Assistant Commissioner of Investigations (‘Assistant Commissioner A’) on 24 September 2024,” the IPCA said.
The IPCA praised Officer D for “displaying moral courage” in challenging her superiors and commended her bravery in insisting on speaking to Ms Z.
The watchdog noted that Officer D was able to recognise what many senior officers failed to see: “That a traumatised victim who has been told she will not be listened to if she tries to approach police may not present as a regular victim ‘should’ and that the emails Ms Z was sending may have reflected the desperation of someone emailing into the ‘abyss’, having not been heard for several years prior.”
Officer O
In January 2024, Officer O, who was not named in the report, was assigned the task of reviewing hundreds of emails that had been sent to McSkimming. Officer O told his supervisor that only a few of the accusations might have crossed legal boundaries—such as taking unsolicited photos and threatening to distribute them.
However, that detective also pointed out numerous other accusations that would clearly violate the Police Code of Conduct.
“Based on what we know directly, some of these accusations are certainly plausible and are in line with the information that we already have; examples of these are; it happening during work hours, at hotels paid for by work and occurring at police college accommodation. There are many other accusations also included within her emails,” he said.
The IPCA said it was essential that a detective was able to identify issues in the emails that no other police staff members who had seen them had recognised.
“Through his efforts, his supervisor, Officer N, was then able to brief senior officers, including Deputy Commissioner Kura and Officer B, on the need to look at the matter from two different perspectives – action to stop the emails and an investigation into their veracity.”
“Had FTAC’s advice been heeded in February, many of the issues raised in this report would have been avoided, and a more balanced consideration of the respective interests of Deputy Commissioner McSkimming and Ms Z may have been adopted,” the IPCA said.
The IPCA also praised the director of Police Legal Services, specifically for directly standing up to Commissioner Andrew Coster in late October and early November to ensure the investigation structure was robust and free from actual or perceived conflicts of interest.
At meetings involving Commissioner Andrew Coster, Tania Kura, Deputy Commissioner of People, Leadership and Culture, and other officers, Coster discussed the issue of natural justice for McSkimming. He expressed concern that McSkimming had already suffered harm from the alleged harassment by Ms Z and warned that McSkimming will be denied the chance to apply for the Commissioner role if the matter is not resolved swiftly.
The director of PLC said the police could and should handle Ms Z’s complaint through the standard procedure and initiate a criminal investigation.