The Roast Busters scandal has produced no charges laid against anyone after 12 months of investigation. Police have decided not to lay charges due to lack of evidence.

The Roast Busters scandal has made national headlines in November 2013, and involves a group of young Auckland men, around the ages of 17 and 25, who allegedly bragged about intoxicating underage girls and gang-raping them. The men posted videos of the act to social media in an apparent bid to shame their victims.

The group has been believed to be going on for years, but only gained media attention in 2013 when a news site investigated its operation. According to 3News, the group used Facebook to recruit new members in joining them in group sex sessions with the girls. The police have been investigating Roast Busters since it was formed in 2011, but their lack of progress has led to public outrage.

Detective Inspector Bruce Scott said at that time that the alleged victims chose not to come forward because they have been traumatised by their ordeal.

A year after, the police have decided not to file charges against the men involved in the scandal due to lack of evidence. Operation Clover initially canvassed over a hundred girls, but only five of them provided formal statements. Thirty-five males were also identified as “persons of interest.”

“Police acknowledge that the basis for interviews of the majority was hearsay and rumour and wish to make it clear ... that there is little evidence in existence to accuse the majority of persons of interest of being engaged in criminal sexual offending,” the police said.

Detective Inspector Karyn Malthus explained that the decision not to lay charges came about due to several factors, including “evidential tests under the Solicitor General’s prosecution guidelines,” as well as “the wishes of individual victims, the admissible evidence available, the nature of the offence and the age of the parties at the time of the offending.”

She added that she was satisfied that they have pursued “every investigative avenue,” but they leave door open to other alleged victims to come forward as there is no time limit on reporting sexual offending.

Some of the alleged victims said they expected the police to close the case, citing the police’s lack of follow up with them, as well as their “rude” attitude towards them when conducting the interview.

A father of one of the girls was dismayed that the police decided not to press charges, adding to Stuff that he believes the girls who did not file complaint were afraid that they would be bullied if they went public.