Calls for stalking to be criminalised w/ Associate Professor at the University of Auckland Faculty of Law, Carrie Leonetti: 23rd April, 2023.

Last week, the Independent Police Conduct Authority released its summary of police’s handling of Farzana Yaqubi’s complaints of a man stalking her, eight weeks before she was murdered in December 2022 by the same man. 

The report found a litany of police failures in its handling, including that  its assessment matrix did not consider all lines of inquiry.

New Zealand is one of the few countries that does not treat stalking as a crime.

As a result of the IPCA’s report and Yaqubi’s death, many have called for this to change. 

Producer Sofia Roger Williams spoke to Associate Professor at the University of Auckland Faculty of Law, Carrie Leonetti, about current laws for stalking in Aotearoa, the importance of criminalising it, and what that could look like.