Some advice please

[Ben1505]

Hi, long story short.. There is a young man (21) who we have sort of adopted as his parents were killed in a car accident several years ago. He went to a party in Feb and had drunken consensual sex with a young girl (19). She pressed rape charges the next day... Several weeks ago he was taken from University by the police, they interviewed him for three hours telling him that they had evidence that he had intercourse with this girl.. He admitted at the very beginning that his happened but they kept hassling him for 3 hours.. They then charged him with rape and locked him in a cell overnight (as conveniently for them it was too late to put him in front of a judge and get bail conditions). Before they locked him up, he asked if he could let someone know where he was going to be overnight, to which the police replied "people like you don't deserve anybody to know".
After he told me what had happened, I looked up this girl on Facebook and found some pictures of her enjoying herself with friends at a party (on the nightclubs official Facebook page). These pictures were taken 1 week after the alleged rape... In the same week, she started a new part-time job and also started at university... Her Facebook page shows her having a ball at university as well as joking with her friends posts from the day after the alleged rape until today... Does anybody think that she is making it up? Or is her behaviour normal for a rape victim?

[Dave]

Welcome but sorry you have to find us.
Get screen shots of all those pages asap, the more evidence you can gather the better.
As to the phone call, or lack of it, then that's one for the legal people to say if he has a case for a complaint, although filth will probably deny it anyway.

[Casehardened]

Hi,

I guess that as he has been charged he will now have a solicitor and hopefully one with experience in defending false rape allegations.

If the girl was very drunk the prosecution may well allege she was in no fit state to give consent, nevertheless it would be useful for him to make list of the other partygoers and contact them to ascertain if they remember anything about the interaction between him and the girl.

If she was flirting with your lad before she became really intoxicated this will be a powerful defence to put to the jury.

If there are any witnesses who would attest to this, give their names to his solicitor (and not to the police!)

Regarding the phone call, ask his solicitor to obtain a copy of his custody record which should detail what happened at the police station.

[Ben1505]

Hi again.... We have a meeting with lawyer tomorrow... I have a copy of her statement and the police have obviously gone for the too drunk to give consent angle... This girl has said that she was so drunk that she couldn't fight this lad off but she remembers everything in great detail... But she doesn't know who raped her because she was too drunk... All she knows is that it was one of the two guys at this party...

[Rights Fighter]

Not sure I understand what you mean by

They then charged him with rape and locked him in a cell overnight (as conveniently for them it was too late to put him in front of a judge and get bail conditions)

Suspects don't have to go before a judge to 'get bail conditions'. They could have bailed him after interview unless they believed he was at risk of contacting the complainant. He needs to clarify with the duty solicitor what actually happened.

He is entitled to one phone call. Did he call anybody other than a solicitor?

[frightened spouse]

Hi Ben1505 Welcome to the forum. Are you in Scotland ?

[whatsgoingon?]

Hi Ben 1505, Welcome to the forum. This is a nightmare... 2 people have too much to drink together, have sex (as millions before them have done) and then one decides it's not really what they wanted ... hmmmm a very similar thing happened to my son, though he didn't get as far as that. The behaviour your ward received is pretty despicable and I hope he's coping OK. It's important to get hold of his police custody records and get his solicitor to check them over.
Were there only 2 men at this party? .... if I've understood correctly, she can remember everything BUT whoever was supposed to have raped her. I would have thought that was something you'd remember, even if the rest was a blank.

You may know this already... there was a case in 2007 R v Bree that established that drunken consent to sexual intercourse is still consent in the eyes of the law. I quote .... 'However, where the complainant had voluntarily consumed even substantial amounts of alcohol but nevertheless remained capable of choosing whether or not to have intercourse, and in drink had agreed to do so, that would not be rape. This obviously doesn't apply if she was so drunk as to be unconscious.' http://lexisweb.co.uk/cases/2007/march/r-v-bree . Consent issues are very hard to prove or disprove, it'll rely on whether she was functioning or not and that in itself is hard to establish.

They will no doubt have taken blood samples from the alleged victim and your ward - the blood alcohol reading can be traced back to give an estimated blood alcohol value at the time of the alleged rape if taken early enough. The results and analysis will be in the forensic report. In my son's case, they took his blood test over10 hours later than that of the 'alleged victim' (which was then too late to trace back) and then tried to say in court that he'd hardly drunk anything and was wholly responsible for her being drunk which was a complete lie. This was only one of a string of attempts to mislead the jury.

So watch out... he needs an excellent legal team, they have a hand-full of tricks up their sleeves. He also needs to write everything down as has already been said. Was she voluntarily getting intoxicated or was she being encouraged to do so? Is there anyone who was a witness to that? Are there significant before during and after moments anyone was a witness to or that stick in his mind?

On a personal level, I encouraged my son to carry on at Uni through that incredibly difficult 15 months. His immediate reaction was to give up but it kept his mind on other things. I don't know what the situation is for your 'son', if he's not allowed back to Uni till after it's all cleared up, I would encourage him to see if he can pursue the lectures etc on-line even if it means he enrols to a different Uni. Mine had to re-sit a year but did get his degree and now, 10 months after the trial and NG verdict and 2 years from being arrested is doing really well. You have to be prepared to put up a real fight.

Let's hope this never gets that far. Good luck with your meeting tomorrow.

[can it get worse]

After he told me what had happened, I looked up this girl on Facebook and found some pictures of her enjoying herself with friends at a party (on the nightclubs official Facebook page). These pictures were taken 1 week after the alleged rape... In the same week, she started a new part-time job and also started at university... Her Facebook page shows her having a ball at university as well as joking with her friends posts from the day after the alleged rape until today... Does anybody think that she is making it up? Or is her behaviour normal for a rape victim?

Sorry to read about your 'son's' horrible situation. To have received this treatment from the police is crazy. And then FB shows the other side where she is enjoying life. So unfair.

It is good that you have a copy of her statement & I hope your meeting with the sol tomorrow helps somewhat.

[whatsgoingon?]

- sorry, my mentioning blood tests wouldn't be relevant to him as they arrested him so much later. They should have taken hers though. Any FB pictures showing her drinking and partying are good to have should she turn round and say she never drinks or isn't used to drinking.
It's interesting that they did wait so long then felt they had to make it so public. Do you know if they also interviewed the other guy?