Help please! My brother has been wrongly accused of rape

[Lianne]

Hi

I hope someone can offer me some advice! My brother was arrested last month for rape! Yesterday the CID came and took him to go over his statement again. He had a different solicitor to one when he was first arrested last month, why is this?

My family and I are worried sick, i'm very close with my brother as we are very close in age and i know (along with everybody else) that he is not capable of this, not to mention that he got knocked over by a car in January and is till walking on crutches, and will be another 2 months before he can walk without crutches.

The solicitor could not give him much advice, and every time they mention court he almost gets hysterical. I can imagine how he feels, none of us have ever been in trouble, let alone to stand in court!!

I dont know what to do, advice / help more than welcome!

Thank you

[Bigsister]

The awful thing is there isn't a lot any of you can do at the moment. Until the police/cps decide to charge or take no further action you're in limbo unfortunately.
If it's legal aid solicitors he has seen, they also wont do much else until there comes a time that he's charged, if it actually comes to that point. Because there isn't much to go on at the moment, & there is a good chance that it wont be take any further.
It's a tough time isn't it. I am a sister too (hence the name) & know the feeling of helplessness. The solicitor thing will probably just be because it depends what duty solicitor they can use at the time?
x

[michaelanguso]

Don't accept duty solicitors. I asked, on here, several weeks ago for the name of a solicitor. I got one. She's great. I'm sure, if you do the same, someone will help you.

I still don't understand the Legal Aid system but at least I'm not spending taxpayers' money on people that will have forgotten all about you the minute you leave the room.

They're good people, duty solicitors. But it's not in their interest to get bogged down. It's their job to go and help the next man.

[felix]

Also do bear in mind that under legal aid they £300 plus fees for attending at a police station / court. Thus the solicitor is not inclined to do any work outside of interacting with police before charging because they are not paid for it. I had 5 months between arrest and being told they were not going to proceed. Essentially, during that whole time, there was nothing "to do" except answer police questions from time to time, and help with things like accessing emails on my laptop at the atation. (They had seized the laptop). It is horrible, frightening, demeaning, sick making, terrifiying, foul and totally unfair... but it is the law....

[Rights Fighter]

I would like to add that not all duty solicitors are as described here. Some take their work very seriously and make sure that their client is treated properly.

If the "suspect" cannot afford to pay privately then the duty sol is all they have unless they already know of one who is police station accredited - they can request that one to attend.

Duty solicitors cannot actually do a fat lot prior to charge as there is no paperwork to go on so the only advice they can give is general advice.

I have known some privately paid solicitors take the money and then do bugger all.

At the end of the day it is the luck of the draw as to who the "suspect" may get unless, as I said, they are able to choose their own.

Another fallacy is that duty solicitors are paid for or work for the police. That is not correct either.

[Lianne]

Thank you for the advice all.

All of this is so scary, and reading some stories on here makes me more scared. His bail date is in July, how is he going to cope that long, doesn't sound long but it will feel like an eternity.

Its just so hard to understand all this, the police cant have any evidence, it is literally word against word. I'm going out of my mind, so helpless.

So during this time, what are police doing? Will they talk to her friends? She has a young son too, will they talk to him? Will they question anyone that knows him, eg his friends/family? So many questions......

x

[Rights Fighter]

Unfortunately the police are under great pressure to increase rape convictions so they will rarely interview somebody who can help the defence case. Long gone are the days when the police investigated this sort of allegation. Instead they will gather evidence to help ensure a conviction.

[Saffron]

Hi Lianne

I can't add anything to the advice that has already been given, but I wanted to say welcome.