Serious Sexual Crimes Handled by Police in Last Five Years

Ms Anthea Ong asked the Minister for Home Affairs with regard to cases of serious sexual crimes handled by the Police in the last five years (a) how many cases were filed each year; (b) how many cases were charged in Court and, for these, what is the median time which elapsed between the making of the Police report and the completion of investigations; (c) how many cases were prosecuted in Court and, of these, what percentage resulted in a conviction; and (d) of those that were not prosecuted in Court, what percentage resulted in (i) a warning being issued to the perpetrator (ii) no further action taken against the perpetrator and (iii) the complainant being warned or charged with false reporting.

There were about 250 reported cases of serious sexual crimes (that is, rape and sexual assault by penetration) a year for the period of 2014 to 2018. No further action was taken in about 130 of the cases as no offence was made out after investigations. In about another 10 cases, police charged or warned the complainants for making false reports.

Of the remaining 110 cases, about 50 cases were prosecuted in Court per year. About 60 cases resulted in warnings in lieu of prosecution.

On average, Police require about 12 months to conclude investigations into such crimes. However, the actual length may differ from case to case depending on their complexity.