What to do if you have just been sexually assaulted

If you are in immediate danger, please call Triple Zero (000) and if you can, go to a place you feel safe.

Your health and wellbeing is paramount. If you are injured or need medical attention, please go to your local hospital emergency department or GP. You can find more information on medical assistance and treatment on our medical support ‘page. If you attend the hospital and tell the medical professionals what happened to you, they can arrange for the police to meet you at the hospital. This is not mandatory - it is your choice. 

If you would like to speak with police and do not need urgent medical attention, go to your nearest police station or call Policelink on 131 444. Alternatively, you can use the Reporting a sexual assault online form.

You are not alone. Call someone you trust and talk to them. Seek help from a support service or counsellor. You can find a range of support services on our support services page.

It is okay if you do not want to tell police what happened to you. We understand that reporting it is significant and can be challenging. There are options available to you if you want police to know what happened without them investigating it. Find out more about our Alternative Reporting Options.

When someone reports a recent sexual assault, we will seek as much information as we can. This may include collecting forensic evidence. Forensic evidence is samples collected from your clothes, hair or skin that may be scientifically tested to help us find out more information about what happened to you. Learn about what evidence police gather for sexual assault investigations by visiting our evidence page. We know that it may be difficult, but if you are thinking of reporting to police, it’s really important that you help us by:

• Not changing or cleaning your clothes
• Not combing your hair
• Not washing or showering yourself
• Not eating or drinking anything
• Not moving, cleaning up or otherwise disturbing anything at the place where the assault happened.

Please do not worry if you have already done some of these things. It is still possible for forensic evidence to be collected. We understand it is a difficult time and it may be a lot to ask of you, but the more evidence collected, the more it may assist the investigation. We know that reporting and going through the evidence collection process can be challenging, which is why our aim is to create the best opportunity of getting the outcome you hope for. The quality and quantity of evidence allows us to do this.

If you have experienced sexual violence or harm using technology (e.g. text messages, social media apps, voicemails, intimate images) and you are thinking about reporting to police, collecting evidence can help the investigation. When taking screenshots or saving evidence such as messages or photos, it can help if you include thing like URLs, names of social media accounts, Bitmojis or any personalised avatars and time and dates of communication. To find out more about technology-facilitated abuse, what evidence to collect and how to collect it, visit the E-Safety Commissioner’s website.

Forensic medical examinations (FME) can form part of the evidence collection process and are done at a hospital. If you would like to know more about this process, you can find more information on the FME page.