Trial of the rape victims

DEBBIE WAITE investigates why many people are too scared to come forward and the steps being taken in the town to make the process less traumatic.

DOCTOR Peter Crouch is medical director of the Sanctuary, Swindon's new rape centre at Taw Hill.

He is well placed to gauge the scale of the problem of sexual attacks in the town.

But he also admits that the number of victims he comes into contact with only represent a small proportion of those who actually need help.

He said: "I don't think people know how frequently sexual assaults occur in Swindon.

"We think there are many more that go unreported on women and men and that the official numbers are probably a gross under-represent-ation."

Asked why he thinks that many people aren't coming forward to report attacks, Dr Crouch says: "They may know of people who have been raped, or have read about cases which have not resulted in convictions.

"Sexual assault is also obviously a very traumatic experience and some people particularly men may just not want to disclose that they have fallen victim to it.

"Also, of the cases that do get to court, it can take up to 18 months and although some people believe that it is too traumatic for victims to re-live their ordeal in court straight after the incident, in some ways having to wait so long can just serve to open up old wounds."

Another expert who believes the legal system lets down rape victims is Pat Brooks of Wiltshire Victim Support.

She says: "I think a lot of victims are aware of the low conviction rate and are so frightened of re-living their experience in court that it's not surprising they don't report the crimes.

"Sexual assaults rely heavily on evidence and without sufficient evidence cases might not get to court. But women are often terrified of visiting a police station and being examined, so evidence can be lost in that way.

"These people feel dreadful, dirty and invaded. Some of them bathe in bleach to try to scrub away the feelings they're left with.

"Some also keep the attack secret for years because they think there's nothing they can do.

"Rape is an act which involves taking control away from a victim, so placing them in a court, with an audience and against defence lawyers who want them to reveal everything about themselves, can be terrible for them."

DS Mark Garrett of Swindon CID says that although the police are working hard to encourage more victims to report attacks, the investigation and prosecution of rape cases is often made complicated by rules laid down by the Home Office.

"In the last 12 months, of the 20 rapes reported by women over 16, 13 were classed as undetected," he said.

"This means that when matched against the guidelines, there was insufficient evidence to prove that an attack had taken place."

He is also aware of the trauma a victim can go through in court.

One tragic case is that of Lindsay Armstrong, 17, of Ayrshire in Scot-land, who killed herself in June, three weeks after giving evidence against her rapist in court.

During questioning, she was asked to hold up the underwear she wore on the night she was raped and said afterwards that she felt as if her character had been on trial.

Speaking after her death from an overdose, Lindsay's father said she had felt the trial was like being raped all over again.

Lindsay's attacker, who at 15 cannot be named for legal reasons, was jailed for four years for her rape.

DS Garrett says women should be reassured that steps being taken in Swindon will help diminish the trauma of giving evidence.

"Most of the cases reported in Swindon involve people known to the victim.

"In these cases we not only have the problem of it being one person's word against another, but the crimes are sometimes reported after consen-sual sex has taken place, or much later when forensic evidence, or other signs of attack have gone.

"This brings us back to the issue of encouraging people to report attacks as soon as possible.

"Although we realise that the thought of reporting an attack to a police station straight after an attack can be very daunting for victims, we're working hard to improve the ways in which rape victims are treated."

Swindon police now have a system which enables them to video inter-views with victims. The film can then be used to represent the victim in court.

"We now also have a higher number of officers trained in dealing with rape victims," says DS Garrett.

"And we have police liaison officers who can deal directly with victims and their families in their own homes.

"Our work with the sanctuary is also very important in persuading people to come forward and we also have plans to instigate third party reporting whereby victims friends can be the first point of contact in reporting a crime.

"But this still requires an eventual interview with the victim, an examination and possibly testifying in court."