Stranger rape

[Survivor]

I have only just found this site and felt I wanted to post this message. On a girls night out on Saturday night, I was tired and a bit drunk and went to bed early. My next memory is of waking up with a man on top of me. Without wanting to go into too much detail I was raped and only semi conscious at the time. He had been trying to get into other rooms and pestering women all night according to statements. The thing that has gutted me most is that he has said it was consensual and the police have advised it may not even go to court as it is his word against mine despite all the evidence being in my favour. My husband is devastated as well by all this. Any advice would be appreciated. How can the law work this way as the detective in charge said his barrister could tear me to pieces in court.

[One Kid]

I am researching for an essay that I'm doing and very sorry to hear what happened to you...I have no specific advice but all I can say is fight... There is always way the police don?t always say what their supposed to. As I understand it all cases go to court... it?s the Crown Prosecution Service that reserves the right to let the proceedings run or to through it out of court. When they reject a case this is usually because not enough evidence has been gathered by the police. A prime example of this is with the Stephen Lawrence case, the accused parties went to court (and it was their word against Stephens friend) and the case was rejected from court because of the lack of evidence provided by the police... The detective in charge sounds like they are trying to persuade you not to go through with the case and that is disgusting. It is true that rape trials can be a very traumatic experience and the barrister of the defendant is likely to be less than kind, but this should not be used as an tool of fear...all I can say is fight...I do appreciate that it is very much easier said than done...but the fact you went to the police and posted the message seems to imply that you intend to do just that...

[diana_holbourn]

Another forum where you might get some advice is the Survive forum (run by the website at www.survive.org.uk which is a website that has a lot of useful information about issues related to rape). Their forum is at http://pub41.bravenet.com/forum/show.php?u...462926451&cpv=1
It's busier than my forum because it's open to discussion of any issues related to rape, so you might get more advice.