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

Countess,
It IS evidence.
CCTV- of them in a sex shop kissing and all over each other counts against her story.
Its feasible she had not realised she was a victim of rape and this perhaps might be put forward by a prosecution and a jury would have to decide how credible that was in this context.

Her text messages of 'the best sex of her life' is VERY strong evidence counting against her story(assuming he or the paper have not fabricated them)

Her bringing the charge after he dumped her is also evidence. How strong you think that evidence is would be up to a jury. Clearly a defence lawyer would suggest vengeance - and the CCTV, her texts and her bi-polar diagnosis would make for a compelling case for even the most least sympathetic juror.

Ultimately the CPS felt she had perverted the course of justice and had evidence to prove so.

No Gita, evidence she kissed him is not in any way evidence he did not rape her. It's evidence she kissed him, but that's not what the case was about. You're still thinking in terms of how rape victims are supposed to behave rather than how they actually behave.

Countess,

It wouldn't be for you to judge.

The defence would show the CCTV evidence of her kissing the guy the day after she was supposed to have been raped by him.
The jury would infer what they will from that.
The prosecution may have tried to explain away the evidence- (using your post rape victim behaviour model) but as the case was dropped we do not know how persuasive that argument would have been to the jury.

The CCTV footage is certainly more consistent with his story of consensual sex and clearly consistent with her text messages.

And thus rape myths are propagated in court and guilty rapists get off. When it is widely understood that rape victims do not conform to the perfect victim template any more than all rapists wear black and jump out of dark alleys, then we will see more justice.

And from that you've inferred his innocence and his guilt, it would seem. Given that there was never any jury involved in that decision?

My last to gita, obviously.

Stupid kindle autocorrect! His innocence, her guilt.

Oh yeah, all rape victims behave in the same hysterical way. If they don't then it proves it was consenting. If you don't get the MAP, if you don't get an STD screen... All evidence.

It is such bollocks to judge whether someone has been raped on that basis. In my case, I knew I made a shit rape victim, so I didn't report.

It wasn't the only reason why not, but it was a big part of it.

Venus, I agree. I didn't report because I knew how I would look. First time I was model victim really, but he wasn't the model rapist so the CPS didn't take it anywhere.

Countess,
You have jumped to a 'rape myth' critique needlessly.
There are various interpretations of the aggregate of the pieces of evidence.
Just because someone (a juror or Mumsnet poster) infers guilt or innocence from various bits of evidence it doesnt mean they buy into a rape myth.
I havent suggested there is no such thing as 'delayed rape realisation' or 'delayed rape reporting'.

But the combinations of evidence in this case caused the CPS to drop a rape charge but was subsequently sufficient to compel a CPS to bring an accuser to trial for the perversion of justice.
On the evidence thats been released in the media I can quite see why both those things happened.
If it transpires that the media however has suppressed some important details then I'm sure we will all re-evaluate.

Yes, contessa, and the myths around what kind of woman can be raped and what raped woman's behaviour 'should' look like continue to be perpetuated. The 'perfect' rape victim will be white, middle class, mentally healthy and virginal. After she is raped, she will lock herself away, never converse with her attacker again and spend the rest of her days puffy eyes and tear stained. Any deviation from this script means she has lied about being raped. If those who advocate this script can also have a salacious 'woman scorned' frisson, so much the better.

All this means is that not behaving in the prescribed way for a rape victim means that it's pointless for most women to report being attacked, especially those who are in a relationship with their attacker.

Puffins,
You seem to be determined that anyone who reasonably thinks the CPS were right to prosecute her MUST be prone to misogyny and/or rape myths.

But there is no justification for this insistence and is bias/bigotry of its own.

"any deviation from this script means (they think) she had lied"- are you serious?
"woman scorned", "no point women reporting rape"

Do you realise how exaggerated or excessive that sounds?

Gita, you seem to be labouring under the misapprehension that I care what you think since you have shown yourself to be impervious to logic. I thought I was pretty clear in my last post with you named in it that I wouldn't be engaging with your GFery any more, but maybe not. So let me state that explicitly for you. I won't be engaging with your obvious attempts to goad anymore.

HTH

Hardly Puffins,
I rather suspect you dont care about anyone else's views unless they mirror your own.
Bizarrely you may even see that as a positive personal trait.

Having a discussion on a topical issue is not 'goading' as you put it and I think my posts have been sensible and always logical.
But if you don't wish to post, no-one will compel you to do so, least of all me. :)

gita

Sorry I didn't answer your question I went out

But to clarify for you

I believe (as I don't know) that if the police saw texts saying how great the sex was and CCTV showing them together and APPARENTLY happy that they would not have proceeded with the arrest/case

I don't believe the stories about police taking the word of a victim of rape and immediately arresting and investigating the accused....I Do believe the stores of women who are told that there is no case due to lack of evidence, a belief that it may have been regretful sex or that they may have contributed to it

'Countess,
You have jumped to a 'rape myth' critique needlessly.
There are various interpretations of the aggregate of the pieces of evidence.
Just because someone (a juror or Mumsnet poster) infers guilt or innocence from various bits of evidence it doesnt mean they buy into a rape myth.'

No, Gita, it absolutely does in this case. If someone infers innocence from a woman kissing the man about whom she has made the complaint, they are buying into the myth that a rape victim is unlikely to display affection towards her attacker the following day and that it therefore makes it less likely said woman is a victim. Which is nonsense - not my opinion, but fact, if you know the most basic things about the way rape victims process their trauma.

Rufus,
Im inclined to agree with your belief.
One would have thought that the aggregate of the evidence would mean they dropped the case straight away.
But they didnt, much to the incredulity and exasperation of the accused man.
He maintains the police didnt seem interested in counter evidence at all at the start.
The police may give a different version of events of course, that being said, I have heard of some excellent police work over the years, and have also heard of some incompetence and/or over zealousness. Im sure you have too.

I too would (like to) believe the police would not jump into a rape case recklessly, however she may have been a very convincing witness with an impeccable record.

In regard to your last sentence- its a matter of fact that some rape cases are discontinued simply due to lack of evidence or lack of a likely conviction which tragically means you have a proportion of victims who never receive justice.

Countess,
I couldnt agree it 'absolutely does' at all.

You have a piece of evidence which people can infer from, in the context of the case details and other evidence.
If you change the other case details ones inference of the CCTV might alter.

The CCTV is consistent with his version of events, as do her texts, as does her medical diagnosis.

None of this means people are incapable of understanding, or factoring in, the rape-trauma-response model you are referring to.

which tragically means you have a proportion of victims who never receive justice.

Yes. A rather large proportion by all available evidence. Possibly this poor woman was one of them. We just don't know. Your speculations and "logic" might seem perfectly reasonable to you, but they seem like tired old rape myths to many others here, particularly those who know first hand how seemingly erratically a genuine rape victim can behave.

much to the incredulity and exasperation of the accused man

are you that man?

Gita, if what you're saying now is that the kissing is a neutral detail, similar to whether they went to Starbucks or Costa for coffee, and she insisted it was definitely Starbucks and he said Costa but the cctv shows it was Costa therefore he's the more reliable witness, I might agree. So if she was directly asked if she had kissed him the next day and she had said not, then your argument might stand. But your post of 21.05 last night, referring to 'them in a sex shop kissing and all over each other' implies strongly that it is the kissing in itself that makes her version less credible. Which is to buy into the rape myth.

Venus,
Possibly but extremely unlikely given the available evidence.

If the speculations seem like 'tired old rape' myths to you then perhaps you may need to self-reflect on possible self bias or generalisations.

One could know 1st or 2nd hand about post rape conduct yet STILL feel the aggregate evidence points to the accused mans innocence.

Would you be in a position to at least acknowledge that?

Flora,
Now that would be insinuation (well, direct accusation really) to try to derail the discussion and/or undermine my arguments.
But to answer your question, no I am not. :)
According to the media he was exasperated by the conduct of the police.