Neala describes how her treatment in court made her regret reporting the sexual abuse she suffered
All names and identifying details have been changed.
Participants have given us permission to share their experiences.
During her youth, Neala belonged to the army cadets. When she was in her mid teens she was sexually abused by an adult male sergeant.
He was later prosecuted, but acquitted. Neala provides a balanced account of the legal process she experienced, highlighting the contrast in the way that defendants and victims and survivors are treated.
Neala explains that she had always conformed to rules and obeyed people in authority.
She says frankly that as a teenage girl, she found the cadet sergeant, Peter, attractive. But one evening he took her behind a building, kissed her and touched her ‘very inappropriately’ and she felt very uncomfortable about this.
Sometime later, Peter suggested that Neala help him with maintenance work on the cadet base. She agreed, but found herself alone with him. He told her to perform oral sex on him. She was so disturbed by this that she refused, but he got her to touch his genitals and again, he touched her intimately.
She describes feeling shocked, uncomfortable and not knowing how to get out of the situation. But she also believed he had feelings for her and when he told her not to tell anyone because he was married, she agreed.
Over the following weeks, the cadet sergeant continued to sexually abuse Neala, and attempted to rape her, telling her that if she got pregnant he would ‘deal with it’. He repeated his warning that she must not tell anyone.
Then another female cadet confided in Neala that Peter had asked her to perform oral sex on him. Neala says that as a young girl, she had felt she was ‘special’ to Peter and she was very hurt by this revelation. She confronted him, he thanked her for telling him and pleaded with her to keep the matter quiet. He added that they wouldn’t be able to meet for a while. In fact he never made contact with her again.
As an adult Neala came to realise how she had been groomed and manipulated by the cadet leader. She reported the abuse to the police and Peter was arrested and stood trial. But, she says, if she had known what sort of experience she would have with criminal justice system, she would not have reported it.
She is clear that she understands that the defence barrister had a job to do, but she does not feel this justified the way she was ‘dragged through the mud’ during the court case.
One example of this was the barrister introducing her marital problems into evidence and suggesting that she had made up allegations against Peter in ‘a desperate attempt to hang onto her husband’. Neala feels that a lot more extraneous information was introduced into the proceedings that detracted from the facts.
After she gave evidence, Peter went to the place where the abuse had taken place and took photographs. These were shown in court and it was claimed the location would have been visible to passers-by. Neala explains that Peter took measures to ensure it could not be seen, but she was not given the chance to challenge his assertion.
The jury were told that Peter had an outstanding, unblemished character which she feels was very unfair as he had previously stood trial for a similar offence.
During the trial Neala was given incorrect information by the court about the defence plea.
She also repeatedly bumped into the defendant in the court building and there were no arrangements to protect her from that happening. She says that although she was looked after by the witness service she was placed in a room with defence witnesses in her case.
The stress of the trial had a detrimental effect on Neala’s marriage and her wellbeing, and she continues to struggle with a lack of self-respect and self-worth, and feelings of guilt about the abuse she endured.
She says ‘If I knew then what I know now, I would not have gone through with it … I know that it was the right thing to do but it just wasn’t worth it’.
In addition to her concerns about the way that victims and survivors are treated by the criminal justice system, and suggestions for improvement, Neala has other recommendations.
She feels strongly that in a uniformed environment where discipline is part of the culture it is vital to ensure that children and young people understand that they can say ‘no’. She believes it is important to reassure people that they can report concerns without risking a negative impact on them, even if they turn out to be mistaken.
She adds that army cadets should not allow adults to run sessions with young people alone or have unmonitored access to buildings.