thir....nice article....I think rape will be one of the very few crimes in today’s society where there will always be reasonable doubt. I know here in the UK we have had our fair share of proven false claims of rape, but I think it is numbered less than 1%. I feel that this is a follow up on your thread about the sentence for rape in Sweden, but it is a crime that is very seldom discussed because of the controversy that surrounds it, IE: - proven guilt.

Let’s make no mistakes here because whether the rape case is proven or disclaimed, the outcome is broken lives for both parties. I have always maintained that rape is the most heinous of crimes after paedophilia, whether it is male or female as the victim. It is also the male victims that are less believed than the women, because of their macho image.

I remember in the late 60s while I was in the army, a case that appeared in the News of the World. A young man just out of his teens was walking home late one night, and was set about by 4 women. They took him behind a hedge and after stripping his clothes off took turns in raping him. Being very naive at the time all the lads in the barracks including me were laughing at the article, not one person said it was a disgrace, all that was said was, “What’s he complaining for.” I don’t think the case was ever taken to court or properly investigated because of the outrageous claim by the man. The macho image strikes again.

Now older and more mature I have often wondered about that young man, and I think of the injustice that he received from his fellow man. I would think also, that to be held captive by 4 women and used in such a way must have changed his life. Even today very few men cry rape, and again it is all to do with the macho image. Even if they did cry rape, who is going to prove it and how?

There is a law in the UK that if a Husband forces himself on his wife after she says no, then that is rape. I know that statistics show that the rape law in that context has been used many times, but I have never heard of the law being used against the woman. Again I ask; is the macho image getting in the way once more?

Case 2

While driving articulated trucks in the UK after leaving the forces, I pulled up in a service station for a breakfast. The only place to sit was on a table with another driver. After he had eaten he took a picture of a family out of his pocket, it was of him, his wife and two children placing it on the table, and all the time he was drinking his tea he never took his eyes off of it.

I had to ask, “Is that your family?”

He then told me his story about picking a woman hitch hiker up in a service station, and on dropping her off some thirty miles up the motorway she cried rape. He was sentenced to five years, and during his prison sentence his wife divorced him and remarried. About three years into his sentence after another rape case similar to his, a bright policeman, [Yes we do have a few in the UK] decided to look up rape cases to see how they were investigated. To his astonishment this woman had been raped four times, she was a habitual victim. He was released along with the other three drivers an exonerated of all charges, paid compensation and that was the end of it. He had all the documents in his pocket still.

“You still see your children though?”

“No I can’t look them in the face.”

“Why not?”

“Because they never wrote to me while in prison, and not once did they believe I was innocent. I look at their picture of how I left them and I don’t want to know how they look today. I’ll give you a tip son, don’t pick up hitch hikers whether man or woman, because most have a grudge with life and most are looking for a victim to vent their anger.”

I never saw him again after he left the cafe, but I always hoped he would find some sort of reconciliation with his children.

It takes very clever detection to prove rape, and if it is not there then there will always be an element of doubt. Either way whether real or false it breaks up marriages and ruins lives, both for the victim and the falsely accused. As Ken Clarke in the UK found out this week, rape is a criminal act and politicians should not comment on things they know damn all about. Judges in the UK are also more open minded now and give a fairer verdict.

Be well IAN 2411