2 Vietnamese police officials sexually attacked young women on visit to New Zealand, authorities say

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand authorities have “no doubt” that two Vietnamese officials sexually attacked two young female servers at a restaurant during a visit to the country, but were unable to charge the men before they returned to Vietnam, police said Thursday.

Vietnam and New Zealand do not have an extradition treaty so the alleged attackers cannot be forced to face charges.

One of the women said they were attacked at a restaurant in Wellington in March days before Vietnamese Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính was due to visit New Zealand. The accused men were “associated with the police” in Vietnam and had met with officers at the police training college near Wellington, New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told reporters Thursday.

The woman, Alison Cook, told The Associated Press that she and another server at the Vietnamese restaurant where they worked were attacked in a private karaoke room by two men who pulled the servers into their laps, pinned them against a wall and groped them. She said she was forced to drink alcohol and believed she was also drugged.

Cook, then 19, said she sustained an injury in the assault. The women reported the attack to the authorities the next day.

The Associated Press does not usually identify people who say they were subjected to sexual abuse, but Cook said she preferred to have her name used.

“Police have no doubt these two women were indecently assaulted by two men while working, and had these men still been in New Zealand we would have pursued criminal charges,” Detective Inspector John Van Den Heuvel said in a statement.

Indecent assault is a legal term in New Zealand that covers unwanted physical contact of a sexual nature. It is punishable by up to seven years in jail.

By the time officers had confirmed the identities of the two men they were no longer in the country, Van Den Heuvel said. They would not have been covered by diplomatic immunity, which is reserved only for top diplomats.

Authorities in New Zealand have now exhausted all plausible investigative avenues, Van Den Heuvel said. He added that police sent a letter through New Zealand’s foreign ministry to Vietnamese Ambassador Nguyen Van Trung “outlining what had taken place and expressing New Zealand Police’s deep concern" about the men's behavior.

Cook urged New Zealand authorities to ask Vietnam's government to return the men to face prosecution.

“If they choose to give up now on this case it’s setting a devastating precedent that it’s OK to commit sex crimes in New Zealand as long as you can leave,” she said.

The Vietnamese Embassy in Wellington did not immediately respond to a request for comment and no one was there when the AP visited on Thursday.

The restaurant where the women worked did not immediately respond to a request for comment.