What must he do now?

[LouLou64]

Hello, I have registered today, unknown to my partner to seek help and advise on what is about to happen to my partner. His marriage broke down about 18 months ago mainly due to his step-daughters behaviour. He was with her mother for 8 years so the girl was 10 years old when they got together. She is now 20. She (step-daughter) had huge issues surrounding her relationship with her own father who basically was a very intermittent presence in her life and mainly due to this she hated the relationship my partner had with his own daughter who is 4 years younger than she is. She was very jealous of their relationship and also of his relationship with her mother. She appeared to have a need to be the centre of attention at any cost. At around 14 years old she started blackmailing my partner into giving her money on demand, stating she would tell her mother he had 'touched' her if he didn't. This went on for many years and he finally told his wife 18 months ago what was happening - the girl denied the blackmail but claimed the sexual abuse was true.
The mother didn't seem to believe the girl but the marriage (not surpisingly) ended and my partner moved out after selling the house etc. Neither the mother or the daughter have been in touch since. I have been with him for 14 months. A couple of months ago the police came for him at 3.45am one morning and took him to the station. He has now been charged with 16 counts of rape both under and over 16 years of age. She has given specific dates for the alledged rapes which the police say they will check. He has to appear before the Magistrates Court next Monday. So far, he has not seen or spoken to a solicitor and does not have one arranged for next week. I want to help and support him as I truly believe the girl is lying. She has apparantly only decided to pursue this now as the result of attending Counselling.
Please if anyone can advise me what I can do to help him I would be very grateful. He is a lovely caring man who I believe to be totally innocent - I have trained in Psychology and Counselling myself so I feel fairly well placed to make this judgement but I don't know how this procedure now works and what to expect.
Please help. Thank you for reading this.

[Saffron]

The first thing you need to do is make sure he gets a good solicitor. It sounds very strange that he hasn't seen one yet - he should have been offered legal representation as soon as he was arrested. It is even more astonishing that has he been charged without a solicitor present. Did he choose not to have one, or was he not given the option? if he was not given the option, this is a serious abuse of process, and could result in the charges being dropped.

It is insane to speak to the police about an accusation like this without legal representation. Make sure you choose a solicitor that specialises in sex crimes, do not under any circumstances merely use the duty solicitor. This is a Serious Arrestable Offence (SAO) and he MUST get a solicitor. contact FASO at www.false-allegations.org.uk and they will be able to give you details of specialist solicitors on your area. They also offer excellent support for the falsely accused and their family/friends.

It also sounds strange that the girl is able to give specific dates for each of the 16 rapes, especially if they happened a long time ago. She may claim to have kept a diary, in which case it should be presented as evidence. When your partner has appointed a solicitor, they will be able to request the "evidence" the police have to support the allegation, and can then start working on a defence. the case sounds weak, especially if the girl's mother did not believe her claims of abuse. I would recommend that you do some research into Borderline Personality Disorder and request access to the girl's medical records. the CPS will almost certainly deny you access, but your solicitor should be able to make a special case for it. It would also be worth looking at Recovered Memory Syndrome, where counselling has been proven to raise false memories of abuse (especially if the girl reported her claims after undergoing counselling). Get your partner to write down everything he can remember about the times she blackmailed him: what was said, how much money he gave her, etc. You also need to know the dates she is claiming the rapes occured - hopefully your partner will be able to prove he was with friends, or out of town on those days.

Get as many character witnesses for your partner as you can, people who are prepared to stand up in court and vouch for him. if they are doctors, teachers, lawyers, etc, so much the better.

I can't stress enough how vital it is for you to get a good legal team. A poor solicitor or barrister can kill your case.

Finally, make sure you look after yourself as well. Being the "strong" one is mentally and physically exhausting!

Good luck, let us all know how you get on.

Saffron

[Rights Fighter]

Hi LouLou

Can you tell me which area you live in (you can either private message me or email rightsfighter@pafaa.org.uk to keep this confidential) and I might know of an experienced solicitor who has dealt with false allegations of sexual abuse for a long time. It's pointless instructing somebody who has little or no experience.

Obviously you will need to provide alibis which the police will then take to the accuser who may well change her mind saying she's "confused and upset" due to the alleged assault. You need to be aware of this - I've known dates changed mid-trial to suit the case for prosecution.

I know this sounds scary but you need to be aware of this. Police and CPS rarely fight clean as they have "targets" to achieve.

I agree with Saffron re dong some research if you think that applies to the complainant but you must submit your research, if you think it assists your case, to the solicitor and instruct him to hand it over to your barrister. Again you need to make sure that the barrister that is chosen for you has a history of fighting these cases.

Another tip is to search personal websites such as bebo and faceparty - sometimes the accusers put stuff on there that can be used for defence.

In a trial I am now assisting in, on the accuser's website are comments such as :

Who is your favourite person? Answer: My dad

Some of them also brag about what they are doing. So start trawling the personal website for this accuser. If you can't find them by name, if you know her email address that can sometimes help.

Saffron's idea of looking for an accuser's diary is a good one. I've got an appeal waiting for the Single Judge's decision (as to whether to give leave - permission to appeal). One of the grounds is that the girl complained bitterly in her diary that her boyfriend would not "give (her) sex" and when he did most of the time it was rubbish. At the very same time she was complaining in her diary that she was not getting enough sex, she was allegedly being orally raped by a member of the family!

You need to start looking for character witnesses as Saffron has advised but you need to ask them pertinent questions to clarify whether they can also be "material witnesses".

Good luck!

[LouLou64]

Thank You

Thank you both so much for the help and advise - I will advise my partner of all of this and in the meantime I have done a lot of research on the internet for solicitors experienced in these cases and have now spoken to one on his behalf who has given me a step by step guide on how things will now happen and is happy to be at court on Monday for my partner.

Rights Fighter I will contact you directly to give you the name and address of the solicitor so hopefully you can confirm their experience and suitability if that's ok?

Saffron, thank you for your kind words and useful guidelines. All you have both said will be taken on board and will hopefully help me to help my partner through this.

I will keep you all posted on how things go over the coming weeks/months.

My thanks again to you both.

[Rights Fighter]

Hi Lou Lou!

Just a quick note to say best of luck on Monday. Be sure and tell us how you got on.

[LouLou64]

Magistrates Court

Hello Rights Fighter and Saffron & anyone else reading this,
The Magistrates Court hearing happened yesterday prior to which my partner had the opportunity to meet with his Solicitor for the first time. They had quite a long time to go through things prior to the hearing and he came away feeling a little better about everything as she (the Solicitor) seems very knowledgable about cases like his & reassured him that she will do her very best for him. He has to go to Crown Court in a couple of weeks which will then result in the second Crown Court appearance next February. Much work will be done over the next couple of months to build his defence and attempt to reveal this girl for the liar that she is. I really sympathise with any man who has gone through this horrible ordeal - you really do get a different perspective once you are on the receiving end of this kind of false allegation. I will keep you all updated on progress.
Thanks again for your help, support and guidance.

[LouLou64]

It's over at last!

Hello Everyone,
I thought I would update you all on the most horrendous last 6 months. Please read back through my postings if you are in the awful position of being falsely accused of a sexual crime as was my partner by his step-daughter. Finally (last week) his case was heard at Crown Court. He endured a four day trial having to listen to her lies and those of so-called witnesses (2 previous boyfriends whose only input was to tell the court she had told them of her allegations). Her 'evidence' was entirely based on lies and therefore easily seen for what it was - she could not even 'remember' what age she was when the alleged abuse started. She relied heavily on one particular occasion of 'rape' which she described in detail which turned out to be physically impossible to achieve - even with a willing partner! Anyway, the conclusion of a 12 person jury (5 women, 7 men) was a conclusive NOT GUILTY on all counts (18 of them!).

So this is a message of hope to all of you going through the same process - justice is sometimes served upon those who lie and try to decieve - she may have ruined my partners life for a while but he is now totally free to put all this horrible mess behind him and get on with living.

I was present throughout the whole court case (in the public gallery) so if I can help by answering any questions, please let me know.

Good luck to anyone going through this process & thank you all for listening.

[RFLH]

That's brilliant news LouLou - I just wish that all juries could see the wood for the trees!!

I hope that you can now settle down into a 'normal' life and go from strength to strength.

[Saffron]

I am so pleased for you! that is absolutely the right result. Well done for remaining so strong, you should be very proud of yourself.

It sounds weird saying congratulations for surviving something you shouldn't have been put through in the first place. But you did brilliantly, and deserve some recognition. well done!!!

[Rights Fighter]

Well done and what a good result!!!

Please ignore the PM I sent - I read your first post and answered that rather than scrolling down (doing too much as usual!) - however the invitation is still there to join us on PAFAA because your story can offer hope to others who are in the situation that you were once in.

[ready4war]

Thanks for the information it makes me feel better knowing you can beat someone at their lies. I hope mine comes out this good as she is lying and I think I can prove it with the 2 differnet statements under oath and the rape kit that was done.

[Unregistered]

Wel Done

Well done!

Unfortunately we are in a similar position and my Cousin is on Remand at the moment and have been for 8 weeks.

It is the most terrible feeling in the world that someone can make these sort of allegations knowing very well that they are all lies, and a Mother can encourage this sort of thing just for money, which ours is all about.

Hello Everyone,
I thought I would update you all on the most horrendous last 6 months. Please read back through my postings if you are in the awful position of being falsely accused of a sexual crime as was my partner by his step-daughter. Finally (last week) his case was heard at Crown Court. He endured a four day trial having to listen to her lies and those of so-called witnesses (2 previous boyfriends whose only input was to tell the court she had told them of her allegations). Her 'evidence' was entirely based on lies and therefore easily seen for what it was - she could not even 'remember' what age she was when the alleged abuse started. She relied heavily on one particular occasion of 'rape' which she described in detail which turned out to be physically impossible to achieve - even with a willing partner! Anyway, the conclusion of a 12 person jury (5 women, 7 men) was a conclusive NOT GUILTY on all counts (18 of them!).

So this is a message of hope to all of you going through the same process - justice is sometimes served upon those who lie and try to decieve - she may have ruined my partners life for a while but he is now totally free to put all this horrible mess behind him and get on with living.

I was present throughout the whole court case (in the public gallery) so if I can help by answering any questions, please let me know.

Good luck to anyone going through this process & thank you all for listening.