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I was watching the news tonight and some guy within the football profession has publicly waived his right as a potential victim to anonymity by coming forward and announcing through the media that he was sexually abused in the past by someone within his profession.
I didn't know alleged victims had the right to waive their anonymity. But what about the rights of people who are on the other end of being accused? His actions have already led to four others supposedly coming forward to report further abuse but his case has not even been tested to reach the evidence threshold required to charge.
I'm not suggesting for one minute that his allegations are false or condoning the actions of people who do perpetrate abuse. However, once these kinds of accusations are made public there is no way of retracting the damage they can cause. This kind of attention can also generate malicious allegations from people with a vendetta or trying to make a quick buck.
As a victim myself of an extremely nasty false allegation made against me two years ago, the damage to my career would have been immense if my accuser had decided to waive his anonymity, even though I was the real victim. And even though I was never charged or arrested, if he had gone public then I would have had to live with the fact of everyone knowing he had accused me of something which carries a great deal of stigma and shame. Isn't it about time our legal system gave people who are on the receiving end of these awful allegations some basic rights? After all, you are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty.
I didn't know alleged victims had the right to waive their anonymity. But what about the rights of people who are on the other end of being accused? His actions have already led to four others supposedly coming forward to report further abuse but his case has not even been tested to reach the evidence threshold required to charge.
I'm not suggesting for one minute that his allegations are false or condoning the actions of people who do perpetrate abuse. However, once these kinds of accusations are made public there is no way of retracting the damage they can cause. This kind of attention can also generate malicious allegations from people with a vendetta or trying to make a quick buck.
As a victim myself of an extremely nasty false allegation made against me two years ago, the damage to my career would have been immense if my accuser had decided to waive his anonymity, even though I was the real victim. And even though I was never charged or arrested, if he had gone public then I would have had to live with the fact of everyone knowing he had accused me of something which carries a great deal of stigma and shame. Isn't it about time our legal system gave people who are on the receiving end of these awful allegations some basic rights? After all, you are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty.
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