My partner has been found guilty of sexual assault and rape HELP

[ani100]

My partner has recently been found guilty of sexual assault and rape of his step daughter. They did have an affair when she was between the age of 16-20 and she actually had his child. He admitted all this when she claimed for maintenance when the child was 3. This all dates back to 1980's. He has never denied the child was his. Anyway to cut a long story short. A couple of years ago his son aged 30 now (her half brother) got in touch. As soon as this happened she went to the police saying he had sexually assaulted her from the age of 9 and raped her from 13. saying it was never consensual sex. When he was arrested he didn't even have a solicitor present as he thought it wasnt neccessary.
It went to Crown Court, where even her mother said she was a liar, there was not a scrap of evidence but he was found guilty on all counts apart from 1 and they couldnt decide on the last count so it was kept on file.
He was sentenced to 12.5 years for 1st rape and 2 years each for other. amounting to 16.5 years.

We are now appealing against this. Our Barrister has listed 27 points for appeal. So we have to wait and see if we get leave to appeal.

I am at my wits end. He has now been moved to a prison 110 miles away. So visiting is very hard. He has 2 children from another marriage who have lost there beloved dad. We are still waiting for visiting rights for them. He is being told all the time that if he admits guilt he will get a lesser sentence. But he won't admit anything as he didn't do it. He knows he was foolish having an affair, he was in his early 30's at the time. But he has never raped anyone.

We shall also have to pay about £17000 costs when he is eventually released. which will cripple us. I have only just been able to hang on to the house as it is.

This girl is now 42 and even her own mother said to me at the court. "A drinker and womaniser yes. But he would NEVER touch a child".

The other big mistake we made was choosing not to give evidence. This was partly my fault as he is a cockney and I didn't think he would put himself across very well. How naive was I.

I am standing by him because I believe him. I just hope he gets granted leave to appeal. As far as I am concerned he was found guilty before he set foot in the court.

[Rights Fighter]

He is being told all the time that if he admits guilt he will get a lesser sentence.

This is a lie commonly told by prison authorities in the hope they will get his bum on the seat in SOTP (offence related programme) - HMPS get paid a lot of money for each participant.

The only way the sentence can be reduced now is on appeal and that may not necessarily work - and it would have to be the defence barrister (or another defence barrister) applying for that.

What they probably mean is that he is more likely to get parole (so let out earlier although there is no guarantee) if he undertakes such courses.

We shall also have to pay about £17000 costs when he is eventually released. which will cripple us. I have only just been able to hang on to the house as it is.

Why will you have to pay these expenses and what are they? Do you mean towards public funding for the trial?

[ani100]

We had to sign documents before the trial saying we would pay for some of the case if found guilty. As we are buying our house we have assets.

We have applied for leave to appeal and he has been told it could take up to 5 months to be granted if at all.

I am visiting him on Friday, so will tell him about the offender courses

[Rights Fighter]

Have you seen the Advice on Appeal yet? If so, are these technical grounds or grounds relating to evidence that should have been put that was not? Evidence that would provide strong support of innocence?

It may take longer than five months so don't hold on to that time limit......

He must not agree to undertake ANY offence related courses. One guy I know about agreed to do the course just so he could move to a prison closer to home then when he got there, refused to do it. This impacted on his appeal application and it was refused - merely because he had agreed to do it.

[Saffron]

We had to sign documents before the trial saying we would pay for some of the case if found guilty. As we are buying our house we have assets.

Hmm, we didn't have to do that, even though we owned our home (with mortgage) and had substantial equity in the property. R was sacked when the accusation was made, but had taken up temporary labouring work. At sentencing the judge ruled that he didn't have to pay anything towards costs.

Sorry you find yourself here. Have a look at the "what to expect in prison" sticky and some of the advice about visiting - what you can take and what you can't. Hopefully you will find it useful.

[Rights Fighter]

Funding has been cut dramatically in the last few years which means that those could were eligible years ago are no longer deemed to be so.

[ani100]

I have a copy of the points of appeal. Mainly that the judge was clearly biased in his summing up. As his ex wife gave evidence that would stand in his favour. i.e a ripped blouse that she stated she remembers going to the school about a fight where the blouse was torn. The girl said is saying this particular incident was the 1st rape when her blouse was torn. That the girl always chose to stay at home when for example the mum was going shopping. That she would flaunt herself at my partner when she was 14/15. Bare in mind that she was apparently being violently abused at this time. i.e punched in the face almost daily. The Judge made a comment that maybe the jury thought the mother was stupid. Also that they found my partner guilty of all rapes apart from the last but 1. And that was not guilty. How can you be not guilty it can't suddenly change from rape to consensual sex can it?
So many things didnt add up. Like I said there are 27 similar points for appeal,=.

[Rights Fighter]

I have a copy of the points of appeal. Mainly that the judge was clearly biased in his summing up. As his ex wife gave evidence that would stand in his favour. i.e a ripped blouse that she stated she remembers going to the school about a fight where the blouse was torn. The girl said is saying this particular incident was the 1st rape when her blouse was torn. That the girl always chose to stay at home when for example the mum was going shopping. That she would flaunt herself at my partner when she was 14/15. Bare in mind that she was apparently being violently abused at this time. i.e punched in the face almost daily. The Judge made a comment that maybe the jury thought the mother was stupid. Also that they found my partner guilty of all rapes apart from the last but 1. And that was not guilty. How can you be not guilty it can't suddenly change from rape to consensual sex can it?
So many things didnt add up. Like I said there are 27 similar points for appeal,=.

The bits I highlighted won't be proper grounds for appeal - these bits were put to the jury and it's rare CA will go behind the decision of the jury once they have heard evidence - no matter how unlikely it is.

One not guilty against all the guilty verdicts would not be considered to be "perverse verdicts" - I can't see that one going anywhere.

So many points/grounds for appeal is rather unusual to say the least. Are you sure these are not just supporting arguments to fewer grounds?

The Judge made a comment that maybe the jury thought the mother was stupid

If the judge really did say this then the CA would have to ask themselves "how does this impact on the verdicts? Does it have an adverse effect on them or has the judge merely overstepped himself?" Whether the judge has suggested the mother is or might be stupid does not really affect the safety of the convictions.

These sound more like arguments to support various grounds, one of which might include the prejudiced attitude of the judge against the defendant.

[Kermit]

Hi Ani

Sorry to see another person join this group, i had to join when my fiancee was accused of raping a step daughter i had when i was married, at the age of 12yld in 2007 she claims my fiancee raped her. We have a long fight to prove his innocence through the appeals court, the 1st appeal against sentence was denied.

The fresh evidence we have was not available for the 1st appeal, we have had to change defence counsel and then the fresh evidence can be presented.

We also had a judge that refused to allow the jury to hear alot of evidence against the cow's lies.

I no i could not have got through without the support on here from everyone and i know they will all help you!

Kermit refused all courses and has been told he can do the courses voluntary, he is not going to do that either as it will effect his appeal as he would then be admitting guilt and that he is not, he is innocent!

Kermit does not have an IPP against him, which is a saving grace after learning and being told more about them.

Did the judge order an IPP at the end of the trial?

Hang in there ok, we are all here !

tc Kermit's fiancee x

[ani100]

Thank you for your post. No there was no IPP. I think most of the appeal reasons are about the Judge making unwonted and unsupported attacks on the characters of the witnesses. Because even though they were called by the prosecution. They didn't really support her claims. Making the jury feel that she was telling the truth and not them. She denied ever going out with him as a couple. Yet video evidence of a former boss of hers remembers them at a party looking like a couple. Now this is a girl who says he was raping her all the time. There are so many inconsistencies I really can't believe it ever got to court. We are in shock

[Rights Fighter]

There are quite a few appeals that have succeeded on the basis of the trial judge's behaviour. Unfortunately these usually end up with a retrial - if the accusers agrees to this.

[ani100]

and what if they don't agree. I'm sure they wouldn't want a retrial as he is locked up for a long time.

[Rights Fighter]

People who make false allegations of sexual abuse are generally not bothered as to how long their innocent victim will receive if he's found guilty again. All they are bothered about is their "compensation" and/or they are not found out.

Some will not go through a retrial in case they are found to be lying. Others will as they think it's worth the risk.