Former naval officer Hayley Young loses appeal to sue British government from NZ for alleged rape

Wednesday, 6 March 2019

Hayley Young has been fighting for the British Government to be held accountable in the New Zealand court system.

Formal naval officer Hayley Young's final chance to argue that she should be able to sue the British government from New Zealand shores has been dashed.

Young has been battling against the New Zealand and British governments for a number of years for not providing a safe work environment after she alleged she was raped while on deployment while serving in the New Zealand navy.

Young pictured while serving in the navy.

The alleged attack took place in 2009 after she claims she suffered months of sexual harassment and abuse by male colleagues – including male staff members betting buckets of KFC on which female officers could be sexually 'conquered'.

The man who allegedly raped her was working for the British Navy.

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* Alleged Navy rape victim Hayley Young loses appeal to have UK government case heard in NZ**

Young decided not to take legal action against him and instead decided to challenge the culture that enabled his alleged actions.

New Zealand's Attorney-General and the British Ministry of Defence wanted her case heard in Britain, where the alleged rape took place.

In a precedent-setting decision, Justice Simon France rejected the attorney-general's argument, ruling the case could be heard in New Zealand.

However, he also ruled the allegations levelled at the British government could not be dealt with in New Zealand.

Young had made clear she could not afford to peruse the British government if the case could not be heard in New Zealand.

Young appealed the decision in the Court of Appeal, which sided with Justice France that the legal argument would have to take place abroad.

Following that decision, Young appealed to the Supreme Court, which released a decision on Wednesday which stated the court would not hear the argument.

'While the arguments the applicant wishes to advance are novel, we do not consider they have sufficient prospects of success to justify the grant of leave,' the decision read.

'Nor do we consider there is any appearance of a miscarriage of justice in the way the Court of Appeal addressed the issue.'

Young's lawyer, Jol Bates, told Stuff the case against the New Zealand government was put on hold while the appeal was being perused.

He and Young had been 'taking stock of the decision' and would continue with their other case.

Young announced earlier this year that she would be running for a seat on the Napier City Council.