Scores of WA sex assault victims will never be heard after lost emails were deleted, WA Police confirms

At least two years of emails sent to an address set up for victims of sexual assault to reach Western Australian police have been permanently deleted, the force has confirmed.

In late July, an investigation by WAtoday revealed anyone who attempted to report a sexual crime between February 2016 and March 2018 via an email listed on the WA Police website were sending highly sensitive reports to a ghost address not monitored by police.

The administrative bungle was brought to light by the experience of one sexual assault victim, 51-year-old Perth woman Melissa Callanan, who tried to report her story to police multiple times via the defunct email.

Ms Callanan eventually identified the error, but was lied to by police who told her the email address on the website had always been correct and that she must have found it elsewhere. This line was repeated to her when she escalated the complaint to WA Police Minister Michelle Roberts.

After WAtoday published Ms Callanan's story with evidence that her version of events was correct, WA Police Assistant Commisioner Brad Royce apologised for what he called a "stuff-up", and promised the police would conduct an internal review into the whereabouts of the lost emails.

WAtoday can now reveal that potentially thousands of highly sensitive emails were deleted as soon as they were sent to police for at least two years - if not more.

"The number of emails sent to the incorrect address cannot be determined as the business rules in place around that account deleted content as it was received," a WA police spokesman said.

"The mistake was identified in mid-2018 and the new address added."

Since the email address has been corrected, police say there have been almost 2000 emails received, including 19 matters that required investigation. Based on those volumes of email traffic, thousands of emails with dozens of legitimate criminal leads are likely to have been deleted forever and are untraceable.

Ms Callanan said the revelation, and the fact that she had still not received an apology from the Police Minister, was damning.

"It's well beyond an administration error, it’s a cultural error," she said.

She said that reporting a sexual assault was not the same as reporting "a stolen TV".

"The fact that you’re emailing the complaint and can't talk on the phone suggests you're struggling to speak," she said.

"If you don’t get a reply you’re not going to pick up the phone and ask what happened to your email.

"The nature of this type of crime takes our voice away… it cuts to a core part of our humanity, our integrity as people".

Assistant Commissioner Royce on behalf of the WA Police Force apologised again for the publication of the incorrect email address and encouraged anyone who believed their matter had been affected to come forward.

"Significant work has been undertaken to ensure that our website is accurate and we have reached out to our partners to ensure they are maintaining contemporary links," the spokesperson said.

But Ms Callanan didn't think the explanation was enough.

"It doesn’t really address the issue of why it’s taken so long to go public," she said.

“And it doesn’t explain a police minister writing to me to tell me something that they knew was not true. That’s an abuse of power."

Minister Roberts said it was regrettable that her officer was provided, "with incorrect advice and it was that information that was relayed in correspondence to Ms Callanan" and deferred blame to police.

“I understand the WA Police Force have publicly acknowledged this mistake and the fact
that incorrect advice was provided to my office," she said.

"It's not acceptable and that's why police have apologised."

Shadow Minister for Police and Justice Peter Katsambanis said the force needed to assure the public that such a mistake would never happen again.

"And that they have implemented some kind of credible public outreach to allow any victims who did use this service to again come forward and have their story heard and their claim pursued," he said.

"We don't know how many victims tried to reach out to police through this system and how many victims have subsequently been re-traumatised and feel that their story has been ignored."

Dr Rachael Burgin, chairperson of Rape and Sexual Assault Research and Advocacy, an outfit that has previous called for an independent inquiry into the ordeal, said confirmation that the emails had all been lost was "an appalling breach of public trust and safety".

"It's unacceptable that the moment they discovered the error they did not immediately alert the public in order to salvage reports from affected survivors," Dr Burgin said.

"The police only ever publicly admitted fault after media exposure. That long delay in alerting the public means that evidence will have deteriorated. People's memories also deteriorate and this could jeopardise future trials."

If you or anyone you know needs support, you can contact 1800RESPECT, the national sexual assault, domestic and family violence counselling service, on 1800 737 732.