A teenage girl who told police she was raped in Westcliff has withdrawn her allegation.*sigh*
Police appealed for information about the attack in Glenwood Avenue on November 9, 2010.At least it never went as far as an arrest. Though there’s one arrest that’s needed, and isn’t going to happen:
The girl claimed that a man in a vehicle drove behind her and then stopped. She claimed the man got out of the vehicle and she was raped in a nearby alleyway.
The teenage will not be prosecuted.Naturally, there's always a few ready to leap to her defence:
Ray1963, Southend On sea says...Those boundaries of 'child/adult' as so flexible, aren't they?
Let's just wait until we get the full story in friday's Echo before jumping to any conclusions, after all she is just a teenager and therefore probably a child.
PurplePrincess, Westcliff says...Yes, rape cases are traumatic for the victim. And according to 'Purple Princess', there's only ever one victim.
Just because she’s withdrawn the allegation doesn’t necessarily mean the rape didn’t happen. Most rape cases don’t make it to court as the whole ordeal is so traumatic for the victim. Now, I’m not saying that is the case here but as the Echo as the journalistic ability of a seven year old, it’s left out most of the facts, so let’s not jump to conclusion on the basis of what is printed here.
maddriver, Benfleet says...Keeps it off their stats, doesn't it?
For your information the following was reported on the BBC website:
"Police said the teenager had since confirmed that she was not raped, had apologised and was "extremely remorseful".
The girl will not be prosecuted but is working with a youth offending team, Essex Police said."
Presumably the reason that no prosecution was made was because of the girl's agreement to work with a youth offending team.
Well, not off mine.
2 comments:
I'm not a great lover or respecter of today's Police, or their methods ..
There was a time when I'd have gone in "to bat" for our Police without hesitation .. but not any longer ..
That said, they really are caught between a rock & a hard place with allegations of rape ..
Fail to take them seriously, fail to investigate thoroughly, fail to detain & question any alleged suspects & all hell breaks loose ..
Take the complaint seriously, carry out an investigation, including .. if necessary an arrest of the alleged suspect & again all hell breaks loose ..
What needs to happen, though I'm pretty confident that it won't ..
Is for one of these females who makes a false allegation of rape to be sent to prison for 5 years ..
That would have a serious salutary effect & make others think very carefully indeed before making false allegations ..
Meanwhile, back in the real world .. the Police have to carry on trying to appease two diametrically opposed points of view ..
"...they really are caught between a rock & a hard place with allegations of rape .."
Sadly, yes. Until they are allowed to treat rape like any other crime, requiring evidence of an actual crime having happened, then these stories will continue.
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