I just don't know how this could happen?

[Pinklynx]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/stories-53243586/the-trial-was-worse-than-the-rape

If you've not got time to watch this, there's CCTV footage of the man making the victim get out money from her account, she was found in his van, people heard her screaming, she had bruises on her wrists and her back, he had her phone so there was GPS of where he took her. Yet he was acquitted.

Also they were asked about her mental health issues (she had depression when younger) and they were able to ask what she was wearing. I thought they weren't allowed to ask those questions any more (unless there was eg. direct evidence of her having made previous similar claims what bearing has previous depression got). What the fuck difference does it make if she was wearing a bikini, or was completely naked, it doesn't mean consent to sex. What part of this is not clear and why are judges not making this obvious to the jury and indeed preventing these kind of questions. They also implied that she was being paid for sex. I'm not sure how that fitted in with him taking money out of her account (!).

Also what the hell was the prosecution barrister doing, surely they should have been able to neutralise these kinds of questions? For instance, having a psychologist to confirm there is no correlation between depression and false rape claims.

No wonder the conviction rate for rape is ridiculously low. I wish I'd been on that jury.

You need to read Why Women are blamed for everything by Dr Jessica Taylor. It will become clear then.
Agree. It's horrific.

I was sexually assaulted on a train

The police were wonderful, the evidence was there, it went to court

Turned out he was a lawyer in the city who hired a hotshot celebrity barrister who specialises in getting high profile people not committed

Cps turned up the day of the trial - the bloke had not even read the file

Hotshot barrister got the cctv ruled inadmissible (how I don't know) so it became my word against his

I was tormented on that stand for 4 hours. He goaded me into being argumentative. I was asked repeatedly why I hadn't got off the train (I had v young children and only had childcare for a certain time, and if I had got off the train it was an hour to the next one). I was ripped apart for being a single mother. It was alleged I had multiple partners and was 'asking for it'. (He never said this, it was what was alleged). He happened to be a black man and the hotshot barrister then alleged I had confused him with someone else because I was white and couldn't tell the difference (despite living in Africa for years myself).

The judge didn't stop this annihilation once, not once, even though I was in tears. Afterwards, I just wanted to jump into the Thames and never come in - I was numb and it was shocking.

It was a hung jury and the cps dropped the case. The police said it happens all the time. I wrote to his law firm and told them to watch the CCTV evidence. I don't know if they did but next time I looked, he didn't work there any more.

Must be even worse for rape - mine was minor. The legal system in this country is broken and favours those who can pay to do something with it. I thought before this we lived in a just country and now I know we don't and won't make that mistake again.

The police followed up for months to check I was ok and I developed a new found respect for them and did some volunteer work afterwards to give something back.

When I say he never said this, what he did was say 'oh I see your 'partner' isn't here' (as I had texted my then partner at the time of the assault - but it took years to come to trial and we weren't seeing each other anymore) 'but he was your partner at the time' (I said yes) and he turned back to the jury, did a massive eye roll and then said 'so no new partner here supporting you, not another one yet' . You get the gist. It was HORRIFIC.

(I saw him on the steps of the courtroom afterwards and shouted 'I hope you don't have daughters!' As I had seen this assaulter months before the trial - he worked round the corner from me assault a young girl on the bus but unfortunately she was too scared to testify)

Thank you Idris, that's very kind.

I had absolutely no idea the system was this broken, I really didn't and I feel dreadfully sorry for anyone who has suffered something as serious as rape and has to go through it

It's the same in the family courts. I was involved in a custody case in which SS were called to give evidence. The obvious lies, collusion and perjury in that case was shocking. And the judge did nothing.

The whole system is shite.

I was found guilty of ABH a few years ago and given a suspended sentense, there was CCTV of the ‘victim’ beating up my friend and then showing grabbing the ‘victim’ and pulling him off, you could see from CCTV that apart from that I didn’t touch him or go near him.

He was white and from a very wealthy family, I’m brown and the two witnesses were brown. It was also later revealed that the ‘victim’ had multiple similar court cases under his belt. But when your dad holds a title you can do as you like.

The only people worthy of ‘justice’ in the UK are the wealthy.

I saw this yesterday. It appals me that this kind of haranguing (I won't call it questioning) of a victim/witness is still legal.

Our justice system is appalling.

I was raped, he got not guilty. Mostly because I was a prostitute at the time.
The man who raped me was my pimp, which everyone was very aware of, and the fact that he was forcing me to work against my will.
You lie for a living, said his barrister. Nobody can trust a word you say.

I too watched this and was shocked and appalled that this person was acquitted. I don't understand how. And the victim said that she was more traumatised by the trial than the attack itself. I don't know how this is allowed to happen.

I'm so sorry for what happened to you @RuralMuppet but glad you share your story.

@vampirethriller must have cross posted. I'm sorry you were raped and then not believed too.

This is sickening, but so tragically unsurprising.

I rant about this a lot at home, but the way the justice system approaches rape is everything you need to know about the patriarchy. Rape is a common crime, yet it is treated in the justice system like it is almost as rare as murder. The chances are that many, many lawyers, judges, police, politicians, jury men etc will have committed rape, so they all have a vested interest in any given rape case failing to convict - it keeps them safe. From justice and their own consciences.

@SimonJT yes it's awful that this happened to you. It's terrible that a rich, white man is given more credibility than a brown man or a poor man or a white woman. I'm sorry to hear this and I hope it hasn't affected your life going forward. But the particular issue here is the systematic bias against women in rape trials. Someone would not be asked if they were carrying the wrong handbag in a robbery trial, or if they were carrying it provocatively. Nor would someone accusing another party of fraud be asked if they were doing so to be attention-seeking. And if by any chance they did ask either of these questions, they wouldn't be taken seriously by the jury, unlike in rape trials, where 38% of men, and 34% of women believe that a sexual assault victim is at fault for what happened to her.

I'm so sorry that that happened to RuralMuppet. It's terrible. And @vampirekiller that's dreadful. The answer to that is so does he but of course you can't say that in court! What a terrible thing to happen to you and I'm so sorry. I hope you're okay now and you've had support to get over this.

I thought we were outlawing these kind of questions but apparently not. I think we should film all trials (not for public consumption) and judges should be held to account for their decisions or inaction. It goes to show why having primarily rich, older, white men administering justice leads to unacceptable bias (and many of the women come from a similar narrow part of society which mixes very little in the real world and has the internalised misogyny of many in that section of society).

MaryRaddy I've ordered that book. Thank you. I fear it will prove harrowing reading though.

@Pinklynx yes it's not light at all. But it explains things. And is shocking in uncovering the absurd bias against women and the victim blaming culture.