Sunday 21 November 2010

Well, I Suppose It Makes A Change From...

...'I got drunk and thought I'd better come up with an excuse!' or 'I wanted to get back at my boyfriend/girlfriend/parents':
Richard Stevens, prosecuting, said: ‘She said she had a drugs debt of £3,000 involving crack cocaine. The dealer had told her to accuse the victim of rape and it was her hope that doing so might wipe her debt.’
18 months in jail might do something to cure that drug addiction. Or not...
Merry uses the nickname Sexy Sam on her Myspace page on which she writes: ‘Before I met my boyfriend I wanted to get in to some kind of modeling [sic]’.

She adds that her ambition is to meet Katie Price.
Well, it's really down to whether Katie keeps her nose clean for the next 18 months, then....

The man in the case? Well, at least he wasn't named, this time:
Her victim was arrested in front of his partner and their children at 4am and driven to a police station where intimate swabs were taken and he was held in a cell for 23 hours.

He remained on bail for 15 weeks with the threat of a lengthy jail term hanging over him while officers investigated the allegations.
It took them 15 weeks to find the CCTV that proved he couldn't have done what she claimed?

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

is this evidence that there are pockets of healthy scepticism in the face of specifically targeted crime detection and prosecution? could we see more police statements and judges highlighting the needs of innocent men and protecting them? the few months that have been handed down in cases brought to trial, I suspect many do not as those accused still appear to afford a relentless supply of sympathy and leniency, clearly act as no deterrent from making false statements. I am uneasy about linking the sentencing to the level of sentencing for convicted rapists. while the impact on the victim of a false allegation is rightly considered in terms of how rapists are treated by society I really don't think there is any argument to treat a rapist like a false accuser of rape. Having said that the few months being handed out again is no deterrent, perhaps if people thought they would go away for a few years if caught the same arguments might go through someone's mind when considering and armed robbery, ie is it worth it? Finally I am convinced that victims of this crime are unique in the distinct lack of support or compensation. Not only should the crime be dealt with in a significantly more robust manner but the level of support and compensation for victims should be raised, I have seen only one man compensated after years of being rebuffed and after a civil action.

Anonymous said...

on the subject of compensation and support for victims, it could well be that men choose not to pursue it in the same way that they are a bit crap at going to the doctors. the structure that exists for women fleeing domestic violence or compensation for the victims of any other crime is established. I guess, I know you'd have to be particularly thick skinned to offer public support for the victim of a false allegation of rape.

Anonymous said...

Dear Predator

An horrific experience for the victim. It seems the woman's dealer did not suffer any penalty.

But the victim now has his DNA, fingerprints and photographs on our beloved government's exciting database of everything about you, and will most certainly 'fail' an enhanced CRB check and possibly be barred from being on the ISA register as 'good with children and vulnerable adults'.
Life’s a bitch, but do we really want a government which actively works very hard spending taxpayers’ money to make it even worse for those who are manifestly victims of crime?

DP

JuliaM said...

"...perhaps if people thought they would go away for a few years if caught the same arguments might go through someone's mind when considering and armed robbery, ie is it worth it?"

And yet, we still have armed robbery. The problem with this is that the accusation is easy to make on a whim, and then the machinery of state starts to roll regardless...

"...I am convinced that victims of this crime are unique in the distinct lack of support or compensation."

Of that I've no doubt. Check where they come in the order of precedence when it comes to a statement. It's usually last, if they are mentioned at all.

"on the subject of compensation and support for victims, it could well be that men choose not to pursue it in the same way that they are a bit crap at going to the doctors."

That's definitely a possibility.

"But the victim now has his DNA, fingerprints and photographs on our beloved government's exciting database of everything about you, and will most certainly 'fail' an enhanced CRB check and possibly be barred from being on the ISA register as 'good with children and vulnerable adults'."

I'd think that if anyone was entitled to have it expunged from the system, it would be him, and others in similar positions?

The threat of legal action alone would ensure it.

David Gillies said...

Judge Goldstaub told her that her lies could stop genuine rape victims coming forward for fear they would not be believed.

I'm getting really fed up with this being constantly trotted-out as the reason why such false allegations are wicked. This guy didn't rape anyone, so subsequent (real) rapes do not impose any moral burden upon him whatsoever. They're immaterial. The wickedness stems from a man's being falsely impugned, and it stops there. As previous commenters have written, this man will inevitably be subject to the 'no smoke without fire' rule and will have his life blighted for evermore. It's obviously too much to ask that false accusers be subject to the same penalties as real rapists, but a condign penalty might be to add their names to the sex offenders register in exactly the same way their victims' names would have been added had a jury believed their accusers' lies.

Rob said...

David,

Politically this statement from the judge is mandatory. He's just covering his arse against the shitstorm he'd get from the loons if he didn't.

The man gets fucked by the process without compensation because men are second class citizens under the Law, and that is also entirely political.

Still, it looks like one of those "very rare" cases of false accusation!

Anonymous said...

Her drug dealer knew this man and wanted to make life difficult for him. Sounds like a drug deal gone wrong. I doubt that the 'victim' was unknown to the police.

JuliaM said...

"...a condign penalty might be to add their names to the sex offenders register in exactly the same way their victims' names would have been added had a jury believed their accusers' lies."

I like that idea!

" I doubt that the 'victim' was unknown to the police."

Quite...