New to this ...Help...advise...what to do? Scotland

[edinguy]

Don't know if it will be helpful or not but my case took just under 2 years to get an outcome in Scotland. Charge didnt come till around 8-9 months of interview and then it was closed court for trial dates then the long wait till the dreaded week arrived.

It's a shambles how long these things take to resolve and it's 2 years of my life I'll never get back but the accuser gets the compensation and I'm left with all the rubble and no support at all.

Justice eh?

[cantgiveup]

Don't know if it will be helpful or not but my case took just under 2 years to get an outcome in Scotland. Charge didnt come till around 8-9 months of interview and then it was closed court for trial dates then the long wait till the dreaded week arrived.

It's a shambles how long these things take to resolve and it's 2 years of my life I'll never get back but the accuser gets the compensation and I'm left with all the rubble and no support at all.

Justice eh?

Hi Edinguy, thanks, did your case go to trial then? There seems to be no support other than this forum for those falsely accused. There appears to be no fairness in the system at all.

I hope you don't mind me asking and if you don't want to answer it no problem, I am really struggling with understanding how my partner could be charged by the police, detained in custody over the weekend, then given police bail with and undertaking to appear without a court appearance, then no appearance again and liberated with no bail / conditions and there appears to be no sign of any further investigations taking place 6 weeks on. So what is his status...is it that he has not been formally charged?

Were you on bail for the 8 or 9 months with undertakings to appear or were you as in my partners case just left in limbo?

CGU

[edinguy]

Hi Edinguy, thanks, did your case go to trial then? There seems to be no support other than this forum for those falsely accused. There appears to be no fairness in the system at all.

I hope you don't mind me asking and if you don't want to answer it no problem, I am really struggling with understanding how my partner could be charged by the police, detained in custody over the weekend, then given police bail with and undertaking to appear without a court appearance, then no appearance again and liberated with no bail / conditions and there appears to be no sign of any further investigations taking place 6 weeks on. So what is his status...is it that he has not been formally charged?

Were you on bail for the 8 or 9 months with undertakings to appear or were you as in my partners case just left in limbo?

CGU

I was in limbo for about a year before I was charged hence it taking 2 years to go to trial.

I was first interviewed, gave DNA ect and then was allowed to go with the report being sent to the fiscal. Then 9 months later I found out I had been charged and had to spend a night in the cells before being processed through the sheriff court and granted bail. It the took another stint before I was to go to a preliminary hearing which was delayed and then finally the trial.

My situation sounds different to your partners but I can't be sure. I was told that I'd hear in due course what the fiscal would decide to do next when I was first interviewed.

[cantgiveup]

That's a tough one but as a Mum I'm a great believer in my gut feeling. Do what you think is best for you, your children and your partner.

We must have come a long way because my ex is totally supportive of hubby. It's another complication you don't need. If only these negative people would stop, think and realise they are a heartbeat away from going through the same thing.

Thanks ITAJ, really glad your ex is supportive, it makes things a lot easier. The worst thing is before all this had happened, my ex was finally becoming accepting of my partner and we all had the beginnings of much better relationships. Her lies have destroyed so much.

The problem for my ex is he is very close to the accuser and so he is also in a very difficult position. What he has said is that he doesn't know what to believe, he sees it as 50/50, but he does not want anyone who he is not 100% sure of around his children. In ways I can understand this, what I can't understand is his lack of trust in my judgement, he knows me to be a good mum and has said to my mum that I am a better parent than he could ever be (although he is hotheaded and can be very difficult, an awful partner, controlling etc, he actually is a good dad, and a lot better at it than a lot of others I know!)

I suppose I need to mull it over, the consequences could be very difficult for me and the children but I will not have people say that I am doubting my partner.

[cantgiveup]

I was in limbo for about a year before I was charged hence it taking 2 years to go to trial.

I was first interviewed, gave DNA ect and then was allowed to go with the report being sent to the fiscal. Then 9 months later I found out I had been charged and had to spend a night in the cells before being processed through the sheriff court and granted bail. It the took another stint before I was to go to a preliminary hearing which was delayed and then finally the trial.

My situation sounds different to your partners but I can't be sure. I was told that I'd hear in due course what the fiscal would decide to do next when I was first interviewed.

Hi, Edinguy, thanks for your reply, it does sound a little different...we have just been told by the sol it a waiting game. What a terribly long wait for you, the waiting is unbearable, I certainly do not hope for a trial, but there is a small part of me that thinks that if we at least knew it was definitely going to happen it would be easier to cope with.

I hope that you are now managing to move on and leave it behind you now.

CGU

[saddened]

Government E-Petition ... have you all signed it? I have....pointed out by RF!!!

All, I will post this on my thread too, however if anyone who sees this new post, can you please sign the e-petition which is against the legal aid cuts? RF tells me that it needs around 12,000 more signatures to be debated by parliament....The link is below and it takes a second to complete, really quick and easy!!!!


http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/48628


Let us make a difference...... because together we can!!!! My son has utilised this service, so let us save this for those unfortunate people to be in the same position as we all are....

Thank you :-) x

[myhome]

Yup - signed both of them - and shared on FB and sent to all at work.......

[cantgiveup]

I signed the other day and shared too...

xx

[cantgiveup]

Any thoughts anyone?

Hi all, am doing my usual and torturing myself with what if's and trying to figure out what is going on / likely to happen. I have found this in an Independant Review on the Scottish Government page...

Again at this second Petition hearing the accused appears with his solicitor and the fiscal moves to fully commit the accused for trial. Bail is then discussed. At this stage the fiscal must have at least two sources of evidence (that is, a corroborated case) before he is allowed to ask the court to fully commit the accused. Without this the accused will be liberated, albeit this does not bring the case to a conclusion. If the accused is fully committed for trial and remanded in custody then he will generally remain in custody until his case is disposed of, subject to prescribed time limits. If granted bail the next stage is usually either to be indicted for trial or for the Crown not to pursue the case. Again this is subject to prescribed time limits.

It seems that this is the closest I can find to the placing in the system that my partner is in, although he has not yet appeared before the Procurator Fiscal (he was detained, charged kept in custody over the weekend, given police bail for 4 weeks without appearing in front of the PF with an undertaking to appear, on the date he was due to appear he was told he was liberated, no bail, no conditions and did not appear in front of the PF) He has been given no date to reappear but sol has said that it could be weeks / months before we here anything else.

So from this I am thinking there must be a problem with the evidence, a rape kit was done so I presume if anything had been obvious from that (signs of force, bruising etc) then he would not have been liberated. The police have not interviewed myself (I was there when it did not happen) nor my partner since the initial accusation. Does anyone have any idea about DNA, how long would results take and how long would it take to filter through...if things had been hinging on the DNA results would the PF not have given another date to appear...

It has been 3 months since the accusation. I live in Scotland.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

CGU xx

[lawlessone2009]

Hi all, am doing my usual and torturing myself with what if's and trying to figure out what is going on / likely to happen. I have found this in an Independant Review on the Scottish Government page...

Again at this second Petition hearing the accused appears with his solicitor and the fiscal moves to fully commit the accused for trial. Bail is then discussed. At this stage the fiscal must have at least two sources of evidence (that is, a corroborated case) before he is allowed to ask the court to fully commit the accused. Without this the accused will be liberated, albeit this does not bring the case to a conclusion. If the accused is fully committed for trial and remanded in custody then he will generally remain in custody until his case is disposed of, subject to prescribed time limits. If granted bail the next stage is usually either to be indicted for trial or for the Crown not to pursue the case. Again this is subject to prescribed time limits.

It seems that this is the closest I can find to the placing in the system that my partner is in, although he has not yet appeared before the Procurator Fiscal (he was detained, charged kept in custody over the weekend, given police bail for 4 weeks without appearing in front of the PF with an undertaking to appear, on the date he was due to appear he was told he was liberated, no bail, no conditions and did not appear in front of the PF) He has been given no date to reappear but sol has said that it could be weeks / months before we here anything else.

So from this I am thinking there must be a problem with the evidence, a rape kit was done so I presume if anything had been obvious from that (signs of force, bruising etc) then he would not have been liberated. The police have not interviewed myself (I was there when it did not happen) nor my partner since the initial accusation. Does anyone have any idea about DNA, how long would results take and how long would it take to filter through...if things had been hinging on the DNA results would the PF not have given another date to appear...

It has been 3 months since the accusation. I live in Scotland.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

CGU xx

Approx 6 months for DNA results to come through.

If there is no DNA and there is no other corroborating evidence then there is no case AT PRESENT. Heaven knows what will happen once corroboration is done away with............

[cantgiveup]

Thanks LL1, I cant really figure out what the hold up is...it might be DNA, there is a lot of other contradictory evidence...it could just be they are putting it out there I guess. I am just feeling so 'stuck' as I am sure everyone is....if there was some kind of meaningful timeframe you could get your head round it more easily...apparently it could be left as an open report forever!!!!!!

CGU

[cantgiveup]

Hi all,

What a rollercoaster this is and I hate them at the best of times!! The last month or so has been a complete low for me, my confidence in everything disappeared, my trust in anything and anyone was pretty non existent and I felt like I could no longer cope...poor eating and sleeping probably didn't help, losing a stone in weight (which I didn't really need to lose) in two weeks is never the best way to lose weight....

Anyways I seem to be coming out the other side, a good talking to from mum about getting some fighting spirit back and a couple of counselling sessions (god they are hard work!!) seem to be picking me up.

I have been trying to keep away from here, the support is tremendous and the knowledge that people here have a true understanding of how you are feeling can really help, but I was spending too much time trawling through this and other sites and it wasn't helping. I now seem to be able to get things out of my head for periods of time, (I now worry that I am pretending it is not happening!! Yes, I am a worrier!!) It is all outwith my control and until the Fiscal decides whether or not to proceed with the FA it seems life is just to carry on as normal...not easy.

Just wanted to update everyone with the fact that nothing is happening, my complaint about being harassed by the accuser has gone unacknowledged - why I would expect anything else I don't know - and to apologise for not posting, I hope everyone on here is ok, has support around them and good legal advise. I want to post on here more and try to show others the support they have shown me, I just dont want to be all consumed by this terrible situation we all find ourselves in.

Love to all CGU xx

[is there justice?]

Hi CGU

I don't blame you for keeping away a while and having some normality. With such long waits, its a good strategy.

Last night, son and I were watching the perseids meteor shower - we always used to wish for silly things every time we saw one but on each one last night we just wished for justice and karma for everyone. Funny how our perspectives change from one lie being uttered.

Take care

[Dave]

Stay strong CGU, tis a funny old place this site and best just to follow your own thread for now and not delve too much into others. You can do that once you this is all over and you will be another one that can give valuable help to others that are going through the mill. For now just look after yourself.

[cantgiveup]

Thanks ITJ and Dave, hope you are both well yourselves.

CGU