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A success story - some hope for everyone
Hi All
I'm actually going to share (though not in massive detail) my partner's story. He's been a bit of a lurker reading about others' experiences and I know it's helped him a lot to know that he's not the only one, so I wanted you to hear a success story and to see that, in the end, it's not always bad news.
The (short version) background is thus - he was accused of raping a girl by having sex with her whilst she was asleep. In the end he was hit with two charges as she accused him not only of the vaginal rape but also of forced oral penetration - I personally believe that she added this second false allegation on when her mouth was swabbed for DNA and she realised that the consensual oral sex she'd given earlier would be discovered. Anyway... the claims were ridiculous - I met him whilst he was on bail (luckily he was never on remand) and quite frankly, when I heard the allegations and what the girl had said in evidence (most of it didn't make sense and a lot of it was contradictory), I was shocked that it had found its way into the courtroom at all. The sex was clearly consensual, though the location and embarassment factor was probably enough to have her regret doing it afterwards.
The trial was over 5 days - he was allowed home each night (2 years on bail and still turning up on the first day of the trial was enough to sway the judge that he wasn't a flight risk), but he barely ate anything all week and spent most of it with horrific stomach pains caused by stress. But he got through it and has come out ok.
At the trial, the "victim" turned up, as did the one friend the CPS had chosen to use as a witness. Jury consisted of 7 women and 5 men. "Victim" requested a screen and spent a lot of time crying during her x-examination, probably because most her answered consisted of "don't remember" and "don't know". Her examination in chief evidence consisted of the prosecution showing the tape of her interview at the rape centre the morning after (he'd been arrested in the early hours following the incident) - I'm pretty certain that her lack of any upset or even proper answers that very next morning were enough for the jury to see through it straight away. The defence barrister was incredible - he asked so few questions, but everything he asked was exactly addressed at the questions we'd be asking to ourselves about her potholed evidence. The prosecution really went at my partner during his cross-examination on the 3rd day, but the truth was on our side and he was able to answer all questions with coherent and sensible answers. In the end, it was fairly clear that many of the facts she had alleged were completely impossible. The jury deliberated for less than half an hour. It was that obvious. The NG verdict was given within the hour and he was released from the dock straight away.
We will never know why she did this, or why she kept it going for so long. I assume it was a case of a lie gone too far and difficult to take take. I do also, however, believe that her access to victim support even before the trial did not help matters - telling someone that they are a victim from the outset will not hellp cases such as this. I am looking into ways of fighting this label prior to trial and ways of fighting the biased supoprt offered (i so realise the issues as those actual victims will suffer otherwise...).
Anyway, good luck to all of you, and I can only hope that you are equally as lucky as my partner. It's a fairly empty success after all the pain, but it is worth it. He's rebuilding his life, and you can too.
I'm actually going to share (though not in massive detail) my partner's story. He's been a bit of a lurker reading about others' experiences and I know it's helped him a lot to know that he's not the only one, so I wanted you to hear a success story and to see that, in the end, it's not always bad news.
The (short version) background is thus - he was accused of raping a girl by having sex with her whilst she was asleep. In the end he was hit with two charges as she accused him not only of the vaginal rape but also of forced oral penetration - I personally believe that she added this second false allegation on when her mouth was swabbed for DNA and she realised that the consensual oral sex she'd given earlier would be discovered. Anyway... the claims were ridiculous - I met him whilst he was on bail (luckily he was never on remand) and quite frankly, when I heard the allegations and what the girl had said in evidence (most of it didn't make sense and a lot of it was contradictory), I was shocked that it had found its way into the courtroom at all. The sex was clearly consensual, though the location and embarassment factor was probably enough to have her regret doing it afterwards.
The trial was over 5 days - he was allowed home each night (2 years on bail and still turning up on the first day of the trial was enough to sway the judge that he wasn't a flight risk), but he barely ate anything all week and spent most of it with horrific stomach pains caused by stress. But he got through it and has come out ok.
At the trial, the "victim" turned up, as did the one friend the CPS had chosen to use as a witness. Jury consisted of 7 women and 5 men. "Victim" requested a screen and spent a lot of time crying during her x-examination, probably because most her answered consisted of "don't remember" and "don't know". Her examination in chief evidence consisted of the prosecution showing the tape of her interview at the rape centre the morning after (he'd been arrested in the early hours following the incident) - I'm pretty certain that her lack of any upset or even proper answers that very next morning were enough for the jury to see through it straight away. The defence barrister was incredible - he asked so few questions, but everything he asked was exactly addressed at the questions we'd be asking to ourselves about her potholed evidence. The prosecution really went at my partner during his cross-examination on the 3rd day, but the truth was on our side and he was able to answer all questions with coherent and sensible answers. In the end, it was fairly clear that many of the facts she had alleged were completely impossible. The jury deliberated for less than half an hour. It was that obvious. The NG verdict was given within the hour and he was released from the dock straight away.
We will never know why she did this, or why she kept it going for so long. I assume it was a case of a lie gone too far and difficult to take take. I do also, however, believe that her access to victim support even before the trial did not help matters - telling someone that they are a victim from the outset will not hellp cases such as this. I am looking into ways of fighting this label prior to trial and ways of fighting the biased supoprt offered (i so realise the issues as those actual victims will suffer otherwise...).
Anyway, good luck to all of you, and I can only hope that you are equally as lucky as my partner. It's a fairly empty success after all the pain, but it is worth it. He's rebuilding his life, and you can too.
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