NZ's justice system must also ask parents to imagine their child falsely branded a rapist

PremiumOpinionOpinion byMarie Dyhrberg KC and Samira TaghaviNZ Herald·3 Sep, 2026 05:00 PM7 mins to readMarie Dyhrberg KC is a past president of The Law Association of New Zealand. Samira Taghavi is vice-president of the association and a member of its Criminal Law Committee.

Specialist relationship-property and trusts lawyer, Deborah Chambers KC, recently opined that New Zealand’s sexual-violence trial system is “from the Stone Age”, that what we “dress up” as due process can be “a second assault” on a complainant and that criminal defence lawyers wield too much influence