Daily Mail - 05.03.2020

susanna

reid:

page 55

Daily Mail, Thursday, March 5, 2020^

femail

magazine

Page 41

TURN TO NeXT page

A

F TER the horror of

rape, you would hope

bringing an attacker to

justice might offer some

form of closure.

Yet the reality is far more complex —

and, sadly, the experience of reporting

sexual offences can be both gruelling and

disheartening for victims. A look at the

numbers illuminates the scope of the

problem. It’s estimated that each year,

more than half a million women are

sexually assaulted, as well as more than

100,000 men. Yet official figures show

that only one in six rape victims ever

report what happened to police.

Of those who did, just 1.7 per cent of

allegations resulted in a charge or

summons in 2018. And the most recent

statistics show that even in the small

proportion of cases where a suspect is

identified and a prosecution is pursued,

h a l f t h e v i c t i m s d r o p o u t d u r i n g

the process.

The reasons are complex but there is

no denying the road to justice can be

brutal. It involves intimate medical

checks, hours of police interviews,

I’ll take a self

help book over

a novel any day!

Convictions are

at a record low

... and here one

brave woman

reveals a reason

why: seeking

justice can feel

like another

form of abuse

The diary of

my rape case

Picture: GETTY / PosEd bY ModEl

INTERVIEW by Rebecca Evans