Helen* met the perpetrator through a dating app and after exchanging some messages they met up. He was into “rough sex” and they agreed a “stop signal” if there was anything either of them was uncomfortable with.
During sex he became extremely violent, including kicking her, beating her with objects and tying her up with tape. He ignored her stop signal and raped her repeatedly, and she went into shock and a dissociative state. Following the incident she went to Accident & Emergency. She was seen in a Sexual Assault Referral Centre and agreed for the matter to be reported to the police.
The case was sent by police to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), who made a decision not to prosecute. They said they could not prove lack of consent for a rape charge, and they could not prosecute for assault, despite the fact that the Court of Appeal has previously said that when serious injuries are caused for sexual gratification there is no need to prove lack of consent.
Helen contacted Centre for Women’s Justice (CWJ) and they arranged for a lawyer on their panel to prepare a detailed Victim’s Right to Review (VRR). This involved challenging the legal arguments that the CPS were relying on and obtaining medical evidence. Eventually the VRR was successful, and the perpetrator was charged with ABH, though not with rape. He pleaded guilty and was as sentenced to four and a half years’ imprisonment, the judge taking into account that the sexual context of the assault made it especially serious.
CWJ was part of a campaign to change the law so that the Court of Appeal’s view on assault for sexual gratification became part of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, and the CPS has to apply this law in such cases. Helen’s case helped to highlight the need for a new law.
*not her real name
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