Cassandra had a difficult experience reporting abuse, and would like it to be better for others
All names and identifying details have been changed.
Participants have given us permission to share their experiences.
When Cassandra was about 13 years old, a neighbour attempted to sexually abuse her.
She told a younger relative of this man what had happened, who said he believed her, and then went on to sexually abuse her himself for several years.
She relates that when she was encouraged to report the abuse years later, she found the investigation and judicial process seriously flawed and insensitive.
Cassandra’s father was extremely physically abusive. She describes regularly attending school with black eyes and other injuries that were assumed to be due to her being ‘clumsy’.
After the older neighbour tried to abuse her, Cassandra did tell her parents, but her violent father beat her ‘for telling lies’. So when she confided in a relative of the neighbour, called Jeffrey, she found it reassuring that he believed her.
Jeffrey sexually abused Cassandra for three years. The abuse including raping her, but she believed she was in a loving relationship with him. She says she would never have told her parents about the abuse, for fear her father would beat her.
Decades later she began to realise she had been sexually abused as a child, and following counselling sessions, she contacted her local police force. The process did not start well, with Cassandra being passed from one police force to another before it was decided which area should deal with the case.
Cassandra learned that Jeffrey had been arrested two years previously in connection with similar allegations. She gave a statement, and describes being interviewed by the police as ‘the worst experience of my life’. She is educated and articulate but found it extremely difficult and uncomfortable to describe the intimate things that had been done to her.
She felt that the female officer who investigated her allegations was insensitive to her needs as a victim and survivor of abuse. It also seemed to her that the officer was overly sympathetic to the circumstances of the man whom she had accused.
Cassandra was disappointed that the police did not arrest Jeffrey at his home address but asked him to attend the police station. She felt this gave him the opportunity to arrive prepared. She was also told that Jeffrey's wife was given advance warning of the investigation and this gave the abuser the chance to put pressure on his wife.
After a lengthy investigation, Jeffrey was charged with offences against Cassandra and was placed on bail. He appeared in court on several occasions before the trial began.
The long run-up to the trial was extremely stressful for Cassandra. She gives examples of details that made the experience even more difficult, such as not having a reference number, so that she had to say the abuser’s name every time she checked the progress of the case.
Cassandra was also disappointed at the very limited contact she had with the prosecution lawyer, whom she only met briefly on the morning of the trial. She knew that Jeffrey would have had extensive contact with his legal team over several months, so this seemed unfair to her. The counsellor who had been supporting her was not allowed to accompany her into the courtroom.
During the court proceedings the transcribed police interview was read to the jury. One section of the interview had been incorrectly punctuated, changing the meaning of what Cassandra had said and making her testimony appear inconsistent. She was able to address the error during the proceedings but was distressed that it had occurred.
Cassandra found the defence barrister’s cross examination insensitive, intrusive and very explicit. She adds that it was extremely difficult for her that the case was heard in an open court where complete strangers could hear the very personal things that had happened to her.
The jury deliberated for several days before the judge allowed a majority verdict and they acquitted Jeffrey.
The sexual abuse and results of reporting it have had serious negative consequences on Cassandra’s life. She says she became promiscuous in her younger years and feels shame about choices she made. She has suffered PTSD and during the investigation she began to self-harm and says the situation took a toll on her marriage.
She has several clear recommendations about how processes could be changed to be more sensitive to victims and survivors of child sexual abuse.
These include: cards with explicit words that could help people describe abuse during interviews; better continuity of staff involved in investigations; the opportunity to meet counsel before the trial; defence barristers being required to cross examine in a more sensitive manner; courts to provide reference numbers for victims and survivors to use when they call to discuss their case; and key supporters should be allowed to accompany the victims and survivors into court.