Treatment by the police

[Jane1234]

I was raped by two people, one of which I knew reasonably well. I was screaming the whole time they were raping me and I believe witnesses can atest to that. The thing is, the police treated me as well as I could expect at the start. A couple of months later, I was asked to visit the police station to go over "discrepencies" that differed from witness statements. Basically, I was grilled for 45 minutes by a senior detective with a silent partner sitting by his side. The questions they were asking were similiar to those I would expect from a slimey defence barrister. He kept on asking me 'is there something you want to tell us...we won't tell your husband'. I answered all their petty questions (e.g. why didn't you say the word rape when describing to your husband what happened (straight after it happened)). He was pressuring me to confess to making the whole story up...which just wasn't true. There was no warning about this kind of treatment, no apology afterwards to even just state they had to grill me to test how I would stand up in court (the only passable reason I could think of for their behaviour). It was suggested to me that I attend a rape case to see what it's like. Now I'm thinking if the police don't have confidence in my story and they're paid to be sympathetic, how can I gain the confidence that a jury will believe me!?

Is this typical of the police? I now understand why other women don't come forward and withdraw their complaints.

[diana_holbourn]

I think whether a jury will believe you will depend to quite some extent on which lawyer's best, the prosecution or the defence. But the fact that you have witness statements at all may go well in your favour.

It must have been quite a shock to be treated like that by the police. It may be that different forces have different policies. Hopefully, the experience will at least mean that you can think of the best possible answers you can come up with to questions like the ones they asked, so you'll be as prepared as you can be if it goes to court and you do have to face a defence barrister who asks similar ones.

[Summersun]

Hi Jane

I'm sorry to hear that you were treated like that from the police. I think the trouble is that it depends on the person that you saw rather than 'the police' in general. I'm sure that there are people in the service who wouldn't have treated you like that.

I empathise and it must have made your experience even worse to been 'extra examined' for something that was so awful for you. It is always good to report things that are not right, and you know they aren't.

I know that there are people out there who want to help and are ready to listen instantly to people who have been through these things.