[Content warning: this story contains distressing details of sexual assault]

A woman raped by Christchurch man George Murphy Starling after he drugged her said his release from prison has forced her to relive years of trauma and left her feeling abandoned by the justice system.

Starling, 37, was released from Rolleston Prison on Tuesday after the Parole Board concluded he no longer posed an undue risk to the community.

He was released almost four years before his sentence end date in May 2030. The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told chrislynchmedia.com she made a strong submission opposing his release and asked the board to impose an exclusion zone covering her and her family.

“I said to them that I didn’t think he was ready for release. I have to remember what he did every day for the rest of my life, it’s not something that goes away.”

She said another victim had also asked for an exclusion zone. “In terms of safety for the community and for other women and for me, I don’t think that’s a big ask.”

The board declined to impose an exclusion zone, saying it was not necessary and would not reduce Starling’s already low risk.

“It feels like I’m reliving standing in that courtroom. I wasn’t prepared to have words put in my mouth after having things put in my body that I didn’t consent to.”

The Board said it spoke to Starling about his past offending “and he was able to explain that consent was a significant issue in his
offending. That is an absence of consent. He now understands he must communicate and ensure consent is present during any encounters.”

The victim said she could not understand how the wording used in the parole decision had been accepted.  “I cannot wrap my head around it.”

Starling was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment in July 2024 after a jury convicted him of raping her and another woman in Christchurch in 2011.

The women, who were flatmates, had agreed to let Starling stay at their house. He arrived with a bottle of vodka that had been laced with a stupefying substance.

Both women became severely impaired after drinking it, and Starling raped them while they were incapacitated.

Judge Mark Callaghan found the offending was premeditated.

The victim said Starling had been part of her wider social circle. “He was one of our friends. He was always a bit odd, we just thought he was a bit quirky.”

She described the moment the drink took effect. “Everything on my body just was feeling really heavy, and I couldn’t really see, everything felt like it was going sideways.”

“I got to the bed, and I just like couldn’t move, there’s nothing I could do, I could not move. I remember trying to tell him to stop.”

The victim said she struggled to process what had happened and did not initially make a complaint to police.

“I thought that I could sweep it under the rug. It would just go away. I didn’t want to tell my friend group that one of our friends had done that to us. I felt really embarrassed.”

Five months after the attacks on the flatmates, Starling raped another woman.

A jury convicted him over that attack, and he was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in 2013. He was released on parole in February 2015.

The victim said learning Starling had gone on to rape another woman stayed with her for years.

“He’d done it to someone else, and he’d gone to prison. I felt guilty that I hadn’t spoken up, because if I had, she wouldn’t have been drugged and raped.”

She said the offending fractured friendships. “There were people in the friend group who didn’t believe me, which I knew that was going to happen.”

“It just isolated me from all of those friends.”

The complaints relating to the two flatmates emerged years later, and charges were laid in 2020.

The victim said she underwent four years of therapy before feeling strong enough to approach police. “I thought that I’d done the work to be strong enough to go in.”

She said the court process was one of the most difficult periods of her life. “Leading up to the trial, I had never ever felt so stressed and anxious and alone in my life.”

“I’ve never ever felt like that before, and was so hyper vigilant.”

The victim said she began experiencing seizures during the most stressful period before the trial and was later diagnosed with epilepsy.

Doctors could not definitively confirm the cause but she said “I know it was the stress, I know it was the court case. My family knows it was.”

She said she had tried to return to therapy, but had struggled to find an available sensitive claims therapist.

“I feel like that speaks volumes in and of itself, that there are all of the sensitive claims therapists fully booked.”

At the hearing in May, the Parole Board said the 2011 offending had occurred before Starling was imprisoned for the earlier rape conviction.

It said Starling had spent about nine years living in Christchurch without further offending before returning to prison following his 2024 convictions.

Corrections did not recommend further treatment, and the board said Starling had strong community support and employment available on release.

The victim said the parole decision had hardened her view of how victims are treated.

“I feel completely let down by a system that’s meant to protect us. There’s a reason why women don’t go forward.”

“What does it say that they can just go out and do something that horrific to someone and get a wee slap on the wrist for it, and be out, and be able to do it again.”

She said the true scale of sexual violence was not widely understood. “There’s an underestimation in awareness of how common this is.”

“How do you share that awareness without telling your story, as hard as it is?”

“The only way to do that is to come forward, but no one’s able to do that, because the system is set up to protect offenders and not the victims.”

She said speaking to chrislynchmedia.com was one way to channel how she felt.

“It’s the only thing I can do now, and it’s the only way that I can try and do something useful with my anger, rather than let it fester and become something ugly and nefarious.”

She said she hoped her story might reach someone else. “Even if they don’t feel comfortable to come forward, just to feel seen and heard.”

Starling remains subject to standard and special parole conditions until his sentence end date.

He must not contact any victim of his offending, must disclose any intimate relationship that begins, resumes or ends, and must attend an alcohol and drug assessment.

He is also banned from using alcohol or drugs and must gain written approval before starting or changing employment.

Where to get help:

If it’s an emergency and you feel that you or someone else is at risk, call 111.

• Email [email protected].
If you’ve ever experienced sexual assault or abuse and need to talk to someone, contact Safe to Talk confidentially, any time 24/7:

• For more info or to web-chat, visit safetotalk.nz.
• Call 0800 044 334.
• Text 4334.
• Survivor Experiences Service: 0800 456 090 (8.30am-4.30pm Monday-Friday) or text 8328.