trial of alleged rape victim who killed herself

[chaosmonkey]

www.theguardian.com/law/2014/nov/06/call-crown-prosecutors-account-suicide-alleged-rape-victim

A young woman who said she had been raped went on to kill herself after the Crown Prosecution Service put her on trial for making up the allegation in a case originally instigated by her alleged attacker.

A bit speechless, so have just cut and paste initial para - sorry

I think the reason the CPS took over the case is because there was evidence that she had lied.

We will never know what the outcome of the case would have been because she passed away before she could appear in court.

If the newspapers have invented or fabricated details then thats wrong of course- but if, for example, she had in fact texted him about the "best sex of her life" and then eventually got dumped and claimed rape 'in revenge' then the guy is a victim of a terrible crime.

Her mental health is bound to have been a factor but that wouldnt lessen the damage to his reputation, the horrendous stress, the humiliation etc.

Had she not sent texts or if he had deleted them or there hadnt been CCTV then he might be in prison for 10+ years right now.

gita Obviously in any case like this there are any number of "if"s. However in this example I have read that the reason the case was dropped was that she reported it too late for there to have been forensic evidence of sex having taken place at all.

Now assuming his account is entirely true, yes, being arrested was a horrible and unjust thing to happen. But all he needed to say was, "Here are the texts she sent me the next day," and that would have been the end of it, no? And perhaps it was - we don't know.

What we do know is that he chose to bring a private prosecution against her. Even if his account is true, that was a malicious, disproportionate response to a rash accusation made by a woman who was mentally ill, which led her to kill herself.

And if his account isn't true, it's potentially something much darker and more horrible than that.

Hi
Yes - the original case was dropped through lack of evidence- which is consistent with his version of events.

According to him he said all that stuff about the texts and her suicide threats and her bizarre conduct leading to him ending the relationship precipitating her allegations but the police just wouldn't listen originally.

Yes- he definitely brought a private prosecution against her- motivated by revenge or to simply clear his name 'properly'?
Either way who can blame him? He must have gone through hell- I suppose the nearest thing of that type that could happen to me were if I was falsely accused of harming a child? One can only imagine the torment.

And if the CPS took on his case then I guess they must have felt she had attempted to lie - hence the perverting the course of justice.

And even is she was ill, and I concede it appears she was, the fact remains she attempted to destroy him in a terribly malicious way- I think most people would want retribution and recognition of innocence. There is a difference in peoples minds between 'insufficient evidence' and your accuser being a 'proven liar'.

It turned out bad for him though because he didnt get that vindication as the case couldnt happen AND he was named by the girls father on radio AND she took her own life which is bound to haunt him forever.

But yes I think its fair he went for a private prosecution and its fair he wanted to clear his name via the media too.

"According to him he said all that stuff about the texts and her suicide threats and her bizarre conduct leading to him ending the relationship precipitating her allegations but the police just wouldn't listen originally." No evidence for that.

"He must have gone through hell" Really? There is no evidence for that. There is a lot of evidence that she went through hell though.

"And if the CPS took on his case then I guess they must have felt she had attempted to lie - hence the perverting the course of justice" No evidence for that either.

"And even is she was ill, and I concede it appears she was, the fact remains she attempted to destroy him in a terribly malicious way" No evidence for that either.

"It turned out bad for him though because he didnt get that vindication " Really? The Daily Mail have given him vindication.

"There is a difference in peoples minds between 'insufficient evidence' and your accuser being a 'proven liar'." There is indeed. Pity some people can't recognise that.

I imagine that if he had a large amount to money to spend on top lawyers and private detectives then they would have been able to make a convincing case which would then have then influenced the CPS. That is after all what lawyers are paid large sums of money to do. Unfortunately I think the law is often on the side of the person with the most resources.

Sadly now she is dead he can say what he likes about her, truthful or not, since as others have pointed out it isn't possible to libel the dead.

If it is correct that he harassed her with threatening calls and text messages then that doesn't reflect well on him.

scallopsgrate,

• evidence? well he had her texts which partially led the police to drop the case.

What a pity they didnt bother looking into those earlier…

• I'm sure she did, part of that was her illness and part of that was due to her bitterness and vengefulness at being dumped

• there is evidence- the fact that the CPS took on the case, and they are reluctant to take on false allegation cases as its hard to prove malice or lying usually.

• there is evidence- she tried to have him convicted of a serious crime by lying to the police. Sending an innocent person to jail for 10 years and destroying their life- just because they dumped you- is kinda malicious.

• partial vindication maybe- but he would have preferred the court outcome clearly.

• ok

Lots of assumptions there and overlooking the fact that he can say what he likes now.

Absolutely none of your "evidence " proves anything

If those texts existed the police would not have proceeded with the case

You have no evidence she lied it's just a load of complete bollocks

He may be innocent he may be guilty only two of them know and one of them is dead

So he can say what he likes

I know someone falsely accused of sexual assault....but there was actual evidence in that case and the second the police saw the CCTV they dropped the case

There's images taken from the CCTV in an Ann Summers branch that have been released to the press. It shows them kissing and was taken the day after the alleged assault.

Not conclusive proof obviously, but it isn't what one typically does the morning after being drugged and raped.

saucyjack

Many women on this thread and others have stated that following their rapes they either carried on 'as normal' or didn't realise til later that they had been raped

So I still don't think that's evidence

Don't get me wrong he may well be completely innocent but we will never know

And you may know what you have done/would do after being drugged and raped but you don't know what would "typically" happen

Unless of course you are a rape counsellor in which case I apologise

SaucyJack, you clearly know nothing about rape and how victims behave, nothing at all.
A very common reaction to the trauma is denial about what happened until it gradually sinks in that sex you've been forced to have against your will is actually not just bad sex but rape.
You're probably under the impression that most victims go straight to the police. Reality isn't nearly as simple as that.
If the police are so ignorant as to be under the impression a victim kissing her rapist the next day is in any way evidence of her lying, then they are in desperate need of further training. If this belief is so widespread in the police force that it is a factor in prosecutions for false accusation, then there are probably even fewer false accusations than the number of prosecutions for it might suggest.

Rufus

So you are saying her texts DONT exist??

You think they were invented by the guy or the paper??

I very much doubt you are correct about that, especially as they CPS took up the case of the false allegation - it would be an important part of the evidence of her lying.

- evidence? well he had her texts which partially led the police to drop the case.
What a pity they didnt bother looking into those earlier…

CPS refused to prosecute the rape due to lack of forensic evidence. If, as he says, he showed the police the texts, they would have formed part of the evidence forwarded to the CPS, for them to base their decision on.

- I'm sure she did, part of that was her illness and part of that was due to her bitterness and vengefulness at being dumped

This was no doubt helped by the endless emails, texts and phone calls he made over weeks, abusive and harassing, telling her he was going to destroy her.

- there is evidence- the fact that the CPS took on the case, and they are reluctant to take on false allegation cases as its hard to prove malice or lying usually.

Unless you have insider knowledge in which case, you're about to lose your job no one knows quite why the CPS took it upon themselves to further a private prosecution yet, hence the enquiry.

The CPS prosecute a far higher percentage of potential 'false accusations' than rapists, even when those false accusations are actually that the woman has been encouraged by Police to retract her allegation.

- there is evidence- she tried to have him convicted of a serious crime by lying to the police. Sending an innocent person to jail for 10 years and destroying their life- just because they dumped you- is kinda malicious.

Unless of course she was trying to send a rapist to jail for a shorter period of time than 10 years, because he raped her and then dumped her.

There is no proof she lied to the police or anyone else about the rape. The Police believed her, hence them not 'no criming' it, or preparing a case for the CPS in order to prosecute her.

- partial vindication maybe- but he would have preferred the court outcome clearly.

I doubt it, this way, no one can sue him for defamation, and he has women assuming you are a woman falling over themselves to tell him that they don't believe it. He's free and clear and has some nice clippings of a DM sadface spread to show people.

Countess,

I dont think people were saying the CCTV 'proved' she was lying.
They were saying its additional evidence against the likelihood of a crime being committed.

Obviously a text message saying 'it was the best sex of my life' is also strong evidence that no crime took place.

Its not as powerful evidence as, say, a video of them having consensual sex with a date and time stamp on the screen but its strong evidence nonetheless.

The CPS clearly thought there was good evidence of her lying as they took the 'perverting' case over and took it to trial. Alas it never took place as she tragically took her own life.

According to her father, the police said they did believe she had been raped but because of problems with her evidence, the CPS would not take the case forward.

As others have said, whether women behave in the "correct" manner following a rape is not good evidence of whether the rape took place.

Puffin,
-Yes thats what I read. Im not sure what forensic evidence there would have been as the allegation was made so long after the sex. I think its safe to assume the texts also featured in the decision to drop the case- if they didnt then thats quite horrendous police incompetence or worse.

• I dont recall that being in the article. But lets assume its true..

If he was about to face X years for a false crime she invented then he had every right to be angry at her. If it was after the case being dropped he would still want retribution for what she tried to do to him and of course the stress, humiliation and reputational damaged he suffered.

Either way, the situation was one that she instigated.

• The CPS will have took on the case as they would have thought they had a fair chance of a guilty verdict which surely would have included evidence of her lying.

• Rape sentencing starts at 5 years so I guessed 10 years- it would depend on what details she used in her story. I dont think there is any evidence that she had any crime committed against her - and the CPS think she was trying to pervert the course of justice- so they dont think so either.

• There is strong proof she lied- CCTV and texts alone. Police appeared to originally believed her story until it became clear there was no proof. The CPS subsequently realised there was, in fact the polar opposite, evidence she was lying.

• I think you are suggesting he is glad she is dead and I think thats an unpleasant and unfounded suggestion- but you are entitled to your views. Even if, over the past few posts, such views appear to be getting increasingly insulting and unhinged.

Flora,
I think the problem with the evidence might have been the lack of it.
Im not sure the grieving father would be in a position to accept that his daughter would do a such a terrible thing as to frame an innocent man out of malice. And thats fair enough.

Oh dear gita, you're not good at facts either are you?

And please don't call me unhinged, 1) it's unfounded and 2) is ablist and makes you look a bit childish.

Puffin,
What facts are you disputing?

Ironically your opening line is somewhat childish and it was some of your insinuations and allegations that I said were increasingly 'insulting and unhinged'.

gita you are happily filling in any details that point towards innocence and ignoring any that don't, including whether the accused person would be in a position to accept that he would do such a terrible thing as to rape a woman and/or harrass her to the point of suicide out of malice.

puffins is not unhinged as she has demonstrated by her sensible posts on many topics. Unlike you.

Gita- it's not evidence, though, is it? Either for or against. And anyone with the most basic knowledge of how rape affects women would know that.

Gita, as you haven't stated any, none. I have made no insinuations nor allegations, merely stated the facts of the matter as they are apparent now, without resorting to believing in DM reporting. I'm sorry you don't like that, but, as I said, you aren't apparently keen on facts, as you merely keep regurgitating what the alleged rapist said in his DM sadface spread. Others have said similar to me, and yet, it's me you choose to insult, now, why might that be?

^This was rhetorical, btw. That means that it doesn't need an answer.

HTH

Flora,
I havent 'filled in' a single detail.
I am aware of evidence suggesting his innocence.
I am not aware of any evidence suggesting guilt.
If you are then Im happy to hear it.

As to harassment- if thats what he did- then that would be due to her attempting to send him to jail in revenge for being dumped. Which is fair enough.

I didnt say Puffins was unhinged I said her insinuations etc were.
Just because she pretended to cross out some insinuations doesnt mean they were not there. And the suggestion he preferred her dead rather than have justice via the court system is a bit of a jump, and a tasteless one at that.