June 30, 2025 • 13 mins
A 24 year old woman has shared her identity in order to talk publicly about an inappropriate relationship she was involved in with a police officer.
Alex McPhail earlier spoke to the Herald anonymously about her relationship with Christchurch-based detective Luke Fazackerley, who she met when she was 22 and reporting a rape to police.
She complained about his behaviour to the Independent Police Conduct Authority, a complaint that has now been re-opened after the Herald reporting.
Today on The Front Page, NZ Herald reporter Katie Harris, who has covered Alex’s case, is with us to discuss why this particular case is making waves on both sides of the Tasman – and we’ll hear from Alex in her own words about what she experienced.
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You can read more about this and other stories in the New Zealand Herald, online at nzherald.co.nz, or tune in to news bulletins across the NZME network.
Host/Sound Engineer: Richard Martin
Producer: Ethan Sills
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Kyota. I'm Richard Martin in for Chelsea Daniels and this
is the Front Page, a daily podcast presented by the
New Zealand Herald. A twenty four year old woman has
shared her identity in order to talk publicly about an
inappropriate relationship she was involved in with a police officer.
(00:25):
Alex MacPhail earlier spoke to The Herald anonymously about her
relationship with christ Church based detective Luke Fazakerlie, whom she
met when she was twenty two and reporting a rape
to the police. She complained about his behavior to the
Independent Police Conduct Authority, a complaint that has now been
reopened after the Herald. Reporting today on the Front Page,
(00:47):
NZ Herald reporter Katie Harris, who has covered Alex's case,
as with us to discuss why this particular case is
making waves on both sides of the Tasman and we'll
also hear from Alex in her own words about what
she experienced. Katie, can you tell us a bit about
(01:10):
Alex McPhail and how you two came to be in contact.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
So Alex is a twenty four year old flight attendant
from christ Church. Now we actually first spoke. I think
it was a year or maybe two years ago, and
it was unrelated to the story that we're speaking about now,
but it was because Alex had a suspicion that a
person I had previously written about had also sexually assaulted her. Now,
(01:33):
I had interviewed a different girl about a serious sexual
soul allegation, and she believed she had been assaulted by
the same person. And so we did have a quick
call and we were able to work out that it
was the same person. But I didn't do anything at
that stage because she was interested in going down the
police route and I didn't want to impact that investigation process.
(01:55):
And police did eventually charge that person with sexual assault
in relation to alex case.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
And then, so how did she bring up the case
that we are talking about.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
We hadn't spoken in quite a while, but I got
an email from her out of the blow, just wanting
to chat about something that had happened since we last spoke.
And from there that's when this inappropriate relationship that she
says really impacted her occurred.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
And can you describe the relationship we're talking about.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Yeah, So, when Alex went to the police, an officer
brought her into a room and she was introduced to
a detective called Luke phy Ezacally and she was told
that Luke would be managing her case. And things between
her and Luke started off very professionally. He would text
her updates about the case, but as time went by,
she says, things became inappropriate. For example, there was one
(02:47):
text on New Year's Eve where she says she kind
of felt like that was something had changed, you know,
Normally a police officer wouldn't text happy New Year's Eve,
you know. And from their things developed, and she says
they sort of had a comp about how they had
feelings for each other, and she alleges that he encouraged
her to send him sort of weird text so that
(03:07):
he would get taken off the case. And then, she
alleges the same day he was taken off her case,
they had sex.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
The text messages and the phone calls they started professional,
and then over time got more and more personal, more
and more inappropriate. Luke really painted himself as this hero.
He kind of said all the right things, and because
(03:39):
I hadn't told my friends and family what I was
going through, he was really my only support and he
encouraged me to lean on him and so through that
a intimate relationship developed. Now I can see that he
took advantage of me when I was in an extremely
vulnerable position, and that doesn't make it a relationship where
(04:03):
two adults decide to come.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Together, even before the messaging became flirtatious, or however you
want to describe it. Is that sort of texting back
and forth between an officer and a rape complainant normal.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
I think for a lot of people they might be
surprised that a lot of these conversations do happen over text,
because this is just how we interact now, and so
it might be the police officer sending you your file
number saying this is the process, just an update we've
interviewed this person, or for example, we're busy with other
jobs right now, but as soon as we have time,
(04:41):
we'll get to the next stage of this investigation. So
it is quite common to be liaising in that way.
What's not common, though, what shouldn't be common, is things
progressing into an appropriate relationship.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
So it might be worth clarifying what exactly it says
in the Code of Conduct about relationships like this. Because
he's not actually accused of anything criminal, is that right?
Speaker 2 (05:04):
No, he's not accused of anything criminal whatsoever. But the
code of conduct is very clear and it states that
staff must not enter into a sexual or intimate relationship
with anyone they meet and a professional capacity if an
imbalance of power exists or if that person is vulnerable.
And I think in this case, it's quite clear that
(05:25):
she tacks those boxes and there is an inherent and
balance of power just in that dynamic. Not to mention
that she was in a vulnerable position.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Yeah, well, because I thought it was interesting that, like
the way their relationship started, she was describing him as
like a hero at one point.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Which is quite natural for a lot of people when
you have gone through something traumatic and someone comes along,
like a police officer or a police detective, it is
quite common to get quite close with people when you've
gone through something traumatic and they are there to help you.
In my view, it's on the detective or the person
in power to ensure that that relationship stays professional.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
And so he was removed from the case. And then
what happened.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
So he was removed from the case, and at some
point during the investigation, she says she told his superiors
that there was an intimate relationship going on between them,
but at the time she was like, please, this is
all my fault. I don't want him to get in trouble. Now,
sheerly Jesus is quite a big issue and they should
have intervened then, and he should have been fired or
(06:24):
lost his job then, in her view, because she believes
no police officer should have a sexual relationship with someone
whose case they have managed, a case like this, for example,
a rape case that didn't happen, and while he wasn't
her detective anymore, they were continuing this romantic relationship while
her sexual assault complaint was still being investigated, and it
(06:45):
was ongoing from there. The relationship eventually broke down and
she sought mental health support, and it was during that
process where a doctorate and some other medical professionals advised
her that this relationship, in their view, was not okay
and that she should.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
What was the reaction from the superiors? Do we know?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
We know that he wasn't removed from his job. We
know that he is still employed by New Zealand Police.
It's not clear if anything else has happened from their
Police haven't provided more context on what occurred after that report.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
So in your discussions with Alex. What sort of motivated
her to go public with us?
Speaker 2 (07:32):
She sort of has term motivations. On the one hand,
she wants to make sure this doesn't happen again, and
she felt really concerned that by staying quiet it could
happen again. On the other hand, she wanted to come
forward and speak up and be named now because when
she was a child, she says, she was sexually abused
and she did speak up then, but she was told
(07:54):
that she would have to endure it. She wanted to
speak up now for that little girl and to show
other women that they can speak up up and that
women should be believed.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
The push to go public with this story came from
the realization that it wasn't just a personal problem between
Luke and I. It was actually a huge problem with
the New Zealand Police and how they hold their officers accountable,
(08:29):
the expectations that they have for the officers when working
with vulnerable people.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
You've obviously reported on a lot of cases like this.
How rare is it for someone to actually go public
and name themselves.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
It is real, it's so vulnerable, and so it's so
brave to come out and publicly name yourself in association
with something that historically was really stigmatized and really shamed. However,
I have noticed throughout my career that there has been
an increase in victims and survivors of sexual assault wanting
to be publicly named. I would say it would happen
(09:09):
once a year five years ago, whereas now I'm probably
doing this like two or three times at least a year.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
So what actually happened initially with the employment process after
her complaint was made, because I know there was a
job in Queensland.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
She said he'd already applied to work in Queensland and
so he had this job offer on the table. He
was due to start later in the year. And so
when I did go to Queensland Police for comment, they
responded and said that the job offer had been rescinded
while an investigation was occurring. Now they haven't been able
to update me on whether that investigation is done, or
whether he still has a job offer or if it's
(09:45):
still rescinded. But it is interesting how swiftly they acted
and in her view, in contrast with how New Zealand
Police have not undertaken. From her view, you know, swift
action in this case.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Has Luke responded adult to your reporting or the case
in anyway. No.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
The only reaction I've had from Luke is when I
approached him for comment and he said that his superiors
had advised him that a media response had already been
prepared and he had nothing further to add.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
And so do we know what the sort of next
steps in this case would be?
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Yeah, So the IPCA has reopened the complaint against him
following our reporting, and I've given Alex a time frame
of about two to four weeks, which is what it
usually takes them to assess. So from there, hopefully the
result will be shared with Alex, since you'll learn what,
if any, action will be taken.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
What's been sort of the response from the general public
to your reporting.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
The response that I have seen on social media has
been real shock, because I think most people assumed that
if a cop had breached the Code of conduct, which
Alex obviously feels that he has, and according to the
Code of Conduct this does seem like quite a clear breach,
people believe that they should no longer be working, and
(11:01):
so almost all of the public reaction I've seen has
just been real shock. At New Zealand police, but also
support of Alex, and that was part of the reason
why she also felt safe enough to come forward, was
because she had seen the response to that first story
and felt, I guess less nervous about fully being named
and photographed in relation to this case.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
I think what I needed when I was twelve and
experiencing that I needed someone to speak up for me.
I needed someone to care to go back and tell
her that I'm that person for her, that she becomes
(11:47):
that person for herself. I wish I could tell her that.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
And what has Alex said about like the response to
the story.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Yeah, well, the second one's only just come out, and
she's just, you know, obviously taking it all in and
just quite shocked. I think she's also quite proud of herself,
and she did a really good job articulating her thoughts
and feelings, especially over a video. But after that first
story came out, she sent me a message, and this
is quite a common message that I get because I
do this type of reporting a lot, and she said,
(12:22):
I feel like I have found my voice again, or
have my voice back. That sort of makes doing this
tough job worth it sometimes.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Thanks for joining us, Katie.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
That's it for this episode of the Front Page. You
can read more about today's stories and extensive news coverage
at zidherld dot co dot nz. The Front Page is
produced by Ethan Sills. I'm Richard Martin. Subscribe to the
Front Page on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts,
and tune in tomorrow for another look behind the headlines.
Kyota. I'm Richard Martin in for Chelsea Daniels and this
is the Front Page, a daily podcast presented by the
New Zealand Herald. A twenty four year old woman has
shared her identity in order to talk publicly about an
inappropriate relationship she was involved in with a police officer.
(00:25):
Alex MacPhail earlier spoke to The Herald anonymously about her
relationship with christ Church based detective Luke Fazakerlie, whom she
met when she was twenty two and reporting a rape
to the police. She complained about his behavior to the
Independent Police Conduct Authority, a complaint that has now been
reopened after the Herald. Reporting today on the Front Page,
(00:47):
NZ Herald reporter Katie Harris, who has covered Alex's case,
as with us to discuss why this particular case is
making waves on both sides of the Tasman and we'll
also hear from Alex in her own words about what
she experienced. Katie, can you tell us a bit about
(01:10):
Alex McPhail and how you two came to be in contact.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
So Alex is a twenty four year old flight attendant
from christ Church. Now we actually first spoke. I think
it was a year or maybe two years ago, and
it was unrelated to the story that we're speaking about now,
but it was because Alex had a suspicion that a
person I had previously written about had also sexually assaulted her. Now,
(01:33):
I had interviewed a different girl about a serious sexual
soul allegation, and she believed she had been assaulted by
the same person. And so we did have a quick
call and we were able to work out that it
was the same person. But I didn't do anything at
that stage because she was interested in going down the
police route and I didn't want to impact that investigation process.
(01:55):
And police did eventually charge that person with sexual assault
in relation to alex case.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
And then, so how did she bring up the case
that we are talking about.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
We hadn't spoken in quite a while, but I got
an email from her out of the blow, just wanting
to chat about something that had happened since we last spoke.
And from there that's when this inappropriate relationship that she
says really impacted her occurred.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
And can you describe the relationship we're talking about.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Yeah, So, when Alex went to the police, an officer
brought her into a room and she was introduced to
a detective called Luke phy Ezacally and she was told
that Luke would be managing her case. And things between
her and Luke started off very professionally. He would text
her updates about the case, but as time went by,
she says, things became inappropriate. For example, there was one
(02:47):
text on New Year's Eve where she says she kind
of felt like that was something had changed, you know,
Normally a police officer wouldn't text happy New Year's Eve,
you know. And from their things developed, and she says
they sort of had a comp about how they had
feelings for each other, and she alleges that he encouraged
her to send him sort of weird text so that
(03:07):
he would get taken off the case. And then, she
alleges the same day he was taken off her case,
they had sex.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
The text messages and the phone calls they started professional,
and then over time got more and more personal, more
and more inappropriate. Luke really painted himself as this hero.
He kind of said all the right things, and because
(03:39):
I hadn't told my friends and family what I was
going through, he was really my only support and he
encouraged me to lean on him and so through that
a intimate relationship developed. Now I can see that he
took advantage of me when I was in an extremely
vulnerable position, and that doesn't make it a relationship where
(04:03):
two adults decide to come.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Together, even before the messaging became flirtatious, or however you
want to describe it. Is that sort of texting back
and forth between an officer and a rape complainant normal.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
I think for a lot of people they might be
surprised that a lot of these conversations do happen over text,
because this is just how we interact now, and so
it might be the police officer sending you your file
number saying this is the process, just an update we've
interviewed this person, or for example, we're busy with other
jobs right now, but as soon as we have time,
(04:41):
we'll get to the next stage of this investigation. So
it is quite common to be liaising in that way.
What's not common, though, what shouldn't be common, is things
progressing into an appropriate relationship.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
So it might be worth clarifying what exactly it says
in the Code of Conduct about relationships like this. Because
he's not actually accused of anything criminal, is that right?
Speaker 2 (05:04):
No, he's not accused of anything criminal whatsoever. But the
code of conduct is very clear and it states that
staff must not enter into a sexual or intimate relationship
with anyone they meet and a professional capacity if an
imbalance of power exists or if that person is vulnerable.
And I think in this case, it's quite clear that
(05:25):
she tacks those boxes and there is an inherent and
balance of power just in that dynamic. Not to mention
that she was in a vulnerable position.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Yeah, well, because I thought it was interesting that, like
the way their relationship started, she was describing him as
like a hero at one point.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Which is quite natural for a lot of people when
you have gone through something traumatic and someone comes along,
like a police officer or a police detective, it is
quite common to get quite close with people when you've
gone through something traumatic and they are there to help you.
In my view, it's on the detective or the person
in power to ensure that that relationship stays professional.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
And so he was removed from the case. And then
what happened.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
So he was removed from the case, and at some
point during the investigation, she says she told his superiors
that there was an intimate relationship going on between them,
but at the time she was like, please, this is
all my fault. I don't want him to get in trouble. Now,
sheerly Jesus is quite a big issue and they should
have intervened then, and he should have been fired or
(06:24):
lost his job then, in her view, because she believes
no police officer should have a sexual relationship with someone
whose case they have managed, a case like this, for example,
a rape case that didn't happen, and while he wasn't
her detective anymore, they were continuing this romantic relationship while
her sexual assault complaint was still being investigated, and it
(06:45):
was ongoing from there. The relationship eventually broke down and
she sought mental health support, and it was during that
process where a doctorate and some other medical professionals advised
her that this relationship, in their view, was not okay
and that she should.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
What was the reaction from the superiors? Do we know?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
We know that he wasn't removed from his job. We
know that he is still employed by New Zealand Police.
It's not clear if anything else has happened from their
Police haven't provided more context on what occurred after that report.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
So in your discussions with Alex. What sort of motivated
her to go public with us?
Speaker 2 (07:32):
She sort of has term motivations. On the one hand,
she wants to make sure this doesn't happen again, and
she felt really concerned that by staying quiet it could
happen again. On the other hand, she wanted to come
forward and speak up and be named now because when
she was a child, she says, she was sexually abused
and she did speak up then, but she was told
(07:54):
that she would have to endure it. She wanted to
speak up now for that little girl and to show
other women that they can speak up up and that
women should be believed.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
The push to go public with this story came from
the realization that it wasn't just a personal problem between
Luke and I. It was actually a huge problem with
the New Zealand Police and how they hold their officers accountable,
(08:29):
the expectations that they have for the officers when working
with vulnerable people.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
You've obviously reported on a lot of cases like this.
How rare is it for someone to actually go public
and name themselves.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
It is real, it's so vulnerable, and so it's so
brave to come out and publicly name yourself in association
with something that historically was really stigmatized and really shamed. However,
I have noticed throughout my career that there has been
an increase in victims and survivors of sexual assault wanting
to be publicly named. I would say it would happen
(09:09):
once a year five years ago, whereas now I'm probably
doing this like two or three times at least a year.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
So what actually happened initially with the employment process after
her complaint was made, because I know there was a
job in Queensland.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
She said he'd already applied to work in Queensland and
so he had this job offer on the table. He
was due to start later in the year. And so
when I did go to Queensland Police for comment, they
responded and said that the job offer had been rescinded
while an investigation was occurring. Now they haven't been able
to update me on whether that investigation is done, or
whether he still has a job offer or if it's
(09:45):
still rescinded. But it is interesting how swiftly they acted
and in her view, in contrast with how New Zealand
Police have not undertaken. From her view, you know, swift
action in this case.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Has Luke responded adult to your reporting or the case
in anyway. No.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
The only reaction I've had from Luke is when I
approached him for comment and he said that his superiors
had advised him that a media response had already been
prepared and he had nothing further to add.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
And so do we know what the sort of next
steps in this case would be?
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Yeah, So the IPCA has reopened the complaint against him
following our reporting, and I've given Alex a time frame
of about two to four weeks, which is what it
usually takes them to assess. So from there, hopefully the
result will be shared with Alex, since you'll learn what,
if any, action will be taken.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
What's been sort of the response from the general public
to your reporting.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
The response that I have seen on social media has
been real shock, because I think most people assumed that
if a cop had breached the Code of conduct, which
Alex obviously feels that he has, and according to the
Code of Conduct this does seem like quite a clear breach,
people believe that they should no longer be working, and
(11:01):
so almost all of the public reaction I've seen has
just been real shock. At New Zealand police, but also
support of Alex, and that was part of the reason
why she also felt safe enough to come forward, was
because she had seen the response to that first story
and felt, I guess less nervous about fully being named
and photographed in relation to this case.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
I think what I needed when I was twelve and
experiencing that I needed someone to speak up for me.
I needed someone to care to go back and tell
her that I'm that person for her, that she becomes
(11:47):
that person for herself. I wish I could tell her that.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
And what has Alex said about like the response to
the story.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Yeah, well, the second one's only just come out, and
she's just, you know, obviously taking it all in and
just quite shocked. I think she's also quite proud of herself,
and she did a really good job articulating her thoughts
and feelings, especially over a video. But after that first
story came out, she sent me a message, and this
is quite a common message that I get because I
do this type of reporting a lot, and she said,
(12:22):
I feel like I have found my voice again, or
have my voice back. That sort of makes doing this
tough job worth it sometimes.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Thanks for joining us, Katie.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
That's it for this episode of the Front Page. You
can read more about today's stories and extensive news coverage
at zidherld dot co dot nz. The Front Page is
produced by Ethan Sills. I'm Richard Martin. Subscribe to the
Front Page on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts,
and tune in tomorrow for another look behind the headlines.
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