Rape Sentencing

[notenough]

Hi, first off to introduce myself. I'm a 20 year old female student and the reason I'm here is that in February 2011 I was raped on my way home. Walking down an alleyway (I'm an idiot I know) at 10.30pm I was attacked at gunpoint and raped. I won't go into detail as its quite graphic and I imagine most of you don't want to hear it. My attacker was recently jailed, (I reported to the police, went through horrific medical examinations and weeks of questioning). I know I'm one of the lucky ones that he was caught. However, at sentencing, he was before a judge who hadn't read my victim statement, (he openly admitted that in court), despite the fact a death threat had been made against me in the attack, my name was used by the lawyers (him not knowing my names had been one of the only things letting me feel safe), and he was sentenced for 7 years after the judge decided he 'showed remorse' (despite a pack of lies from the prosecution about it being an imitation hand gun and that he was drunk- there is no way he was drunk but because he pleaded guilty so didn't go to trial, we werent allowed to prove that). 7 years may sound like a fairly long time, however, of those 7 years, he will only serve half- so 3.5- and of that 3.5, he had already served 6 months while on remand which will be taken off. So in harsh reality, while I serve a life sentence, he'll be out in 3 years. Upset by this thought I did some googling and shockingly a huge proportion of rapes get this sort of sentence. This is not enough! Anyone here who has been through the lifedestroying trauma of being raped will no doubt agree with me. My question is, what, if anything, can we do about it?

[Saffron]

Hi Notenough.

First of all, well done on having the courage to report this. He is behind bars, which means he won't be able to harm anyone else in the near future.

Secondly, although the amount of time he will serve seems paltry, please remember that he will now be on the SOR for life. He will find it extremely hard/impossible to get a job, and other things like insurance, a mortgage, etc. Additionally, his DNA is now on record (it may already have been, perhaps that is how he was caught) which means he will automatically be compared to any other crimes of a similar nature. The police will also be comparing his DNA to other unsolved crimes of a similar nature, he may have other victims out there, which could lead to further convictions.

You said "despite a pack of lies from the prosecution about it being an imitation hand gun and that he was drunk- there is no way he was drunk but because he pleaded guilty so didn't go to trial, we werent allowed to prove that"
I think you mean the Defence said this? It would be strange for the prosecution to offer mitigation in this way.

I can appreciate your frustration at his Guilty plea. You didn't get to have your say. I find it astonish that the sentencing judge didn't read your Victim Impact statement. What did the CPS barrister say about this? There could be grounds for them to appeal the sentence, saying it is not long enough.

I am sure others will be along soon. In the meantime, welcome

[Rights Fighter]

You could contact your local CPS and ask them if they are prepared to appeal the sentence as being "unduly lenient". You would need the trial number and dates of trial when you contact them initially.

[mrmodandmisspunk]

I'm so sorry

I feel genuinely upset for victims who have been raped in such a horrific way, and the sentencing is so short.
For me, a women who was not raped is lying about in court to destroy my partners life. I dont know what we can do to stop rape, and non rape situations.
I am so sorry that you were raped at gun point, I can't begin to imagine what that is like. I think you are so brave, you're amazing.
I think we live in a horrible world, with horrible people. x

[notenough]

The defence eluded to the "fact" that he was drunk and it was an imitation hand gun. Obviously because nothing they said was being cross examined or proven I think they felt they could say what they wanted. I think we are going to appeal. just waiting to hear about court dates now. The judge in the sentencing picked up my victim statement and asked the prosecuter when it had been submitted (3 months before if you're interested) after which he skim read it, read parts of it out, then carried on.

Thanks for your support.

I can't believe someone would lie about being raped :/. It sickens me. My police lady (who looked after me) told me that it happens all the time. During the investigation after I was raped a girl at uni told the police that she'd been raped at the Students union in a similar manner. Turned out to be complete rubbish and completely threw the police off the case for a week or so.

I know I should be very grateful that he's behind bars, and I really am, because when it happened I thought there was no way in hell they'd find him, it just seems to completely undermine what happened to me. It puts rape down with the likes of shoplifting and theft, which is bad, but its material. Rape is theft but in a different way. It takes you away from yourself.

[friday]

I really don't have any practical advice but I just wanted to say how much I admire your courage and strength. Just because you are grateful he has been caught and is in prison doesn't mean you can't be angry that the sentence is pathetic or at the effect it has had on you. I often wish I could only have one feeling at once, the contrast between the anger, pity and relief that it is all over seems to make each emotion stronger.

I really relate to you when you said "Rape is theft but in a different way. It takes you away from yourself." It takes a long time to find yourself again. I'm still not there 5 and a half years later! I'm still angry at him but now there is also pity and I am even almost grateful that his actions forced me to become who I am now. I believe that the you can never be the the same person you were before being raped but you can still be yourself and even a stronger version.

I am waffling so I will stop now but I just wanted to let you know that I appreciate and admire you choosing to report to the police and your actions (strong, positive actions unlike his) could well have helped prevent someone else experiencing what you have.

[notenough]

appeal

Hi all, just so you know this is going to appeal in Jan, nearly a year after the event itself. Scary how time flies isn't it! Fingers crossed the outcome will change.

[RFLH]

I hope that it will be resolved quickly for you.

[50intheclip]

Hi, first off to introduce myself. I'm a 20 year old female student and the reason I'm here is that in February 2011 I was raped on my way home. Walking down an alleyway (I'm an idiot I know) at 10.30pm I was attacked at gunpoint and raped. I won't go into detail as its quite graphic and I imagine most of you don't want to hear it. My attacker was recently jailed, (I reported to the police, went through horrific medical examinations and weeks of questioning). I know I'm one of the lucky ones that he was caught. However, at sentencing, he was before a judge who hadn't read my victim statement, (he openly admitted that in court), despite the fact a death threat had been made against me in the attack, my name was used by the lawyers (him not knowing my names had been one of the only things letting me feel safe), and he was sentenced for 7 years after the judge decided he 'showed remorse' (despite a pack of lies from the prosecution about it being an imitation hand gun and that he was drunk- there is no way he was drunk but because he pleaded guilty so didn't go to trial, we werent allowed to prove that). 7 years may sound like a fairly long time, however, of those 7 years, he will only serve half- so 3.5- and of that 3.5, he had already served 6 months while on remand which will be taken off. So in harsh reality, while I serve a life sentence, he'll be out in 3 years. Upset by this thought I did some googling and shockingly a huge proportion of rapes get this sort of sentence. This is not enough! Anyone here who has been through the lifedestroying trauma of being raped will no doubt agree with me. My question is, what, if anything, can we do about it?

I think a third of the sentence may have been deducted for his guilty plea, this kind of 'plea bargaining' is common for most crimes I believe, though it doesn't seem appropriate for a crime as egregious as this one.


I hope you are OK and I am sincerely sorry to hear your story. You certainly sound very brave and I wish you all the best. xxx

[50intheclip]

The defence eluded to the "fact" that he was drunk and it was an imitation hand gun. Obviously because nothing they said was being cross examined or proven I think they felt they could say what they wanted. I think we are going to appeal. just waiting to hear about court dates now. The judge in the sentencing picked up my victim statement and asked the prosecuter when it had been submitted (3 months before if you're interested) after which he skim read it, read parts of it out, then carried on.

Thanks for your support.

I can't believe someone would lie about being raped :/. It sickens me. My police lady (who looked after me) told me that it happens all the time. During the investigation after I was raped a girl at uni told the police that she'd been raped at the Students union in a similar manner. Turned out to be complete rubbish and completely threw the police off the case for a week or so.

I know I should be very grateful that he's behind bars, and I really am, because when it happened I thought there was no way in hell they'd find him, it just seems to completely undermine what happened to me. It puts rape down with the likes of shoplifting and theft, which is bad, but its material. Rape is theft but in a different way. It takes you away from yourself.

For a female police officer to say that, it must be a pretty serious problem. I wouldn't like to speculate as to why a girl would make that up, with the most awful part being it really undermines the credibility of genuine, victims, wastes police time, and destroys the lives of the falsely accused and their families.

The CPS stated that in 18 months they actually prosecuted 35 cases of false allegations, and had 135 suspected. This did not include what the police had 'no crimed' - and no one really knows (apart from the accused and the accuser) what really happened but in light of this site and the comment from your female police officer it seems that figure is rather conservative, it also cannot include all of the arrests and people found 'not guilty'. Rape is also the only crime where campaigners will take the estimated number f rapes in the UK each year (90,000) and then calculate using the number of convictions (which is 3 out of 5 trials D is found guilty) to arrive at the conclusion there is a 6% conviction rate for rapists.

Notenough: I hope you are doing well and rebuilding your life is going well. My ex girlfriend was raped when she was 17 in Greece on holiday with her friends. A man followed her back to her room and attacked her, she was a virgin at the time and I get angry and upset each time I think about it. I researched and did everything I could to help and support her so please let me know if there is anything you need in the way of advice and I will do my best to help you. :-)

Men in general get a pretty hard time nowadays as a consequence of the actions of evil men like these, which is why I feel rapists and false accusers need to be dealt with so seriously. There is a woman in the USA who had a man (google Duke football player false rape) jailed for about 4 years when she lied about hm raping her (she was recorded admitting she was lying), she received $750,000 in damages and hasn't been prosecuted or ordered to pay the money back, This doesn't send out the right message to ANYONE. A woman here was jailed for I think 12 months after a man served four months in prison for her fabricating a claim against him.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the spectrum there is now a rapist pleading guilty to raping someone at gun point who will serve only 3.5 years (but hopefully more).


Good luck. Not all men are evil baster&*, and I'm sorry you've been so unlucky.

Try and enjoy moving forward with your life, many adventures (good ones) await you.

xxx