What you should expect from the police
Advice
In terms of the police’s actions, they will first check on your welfare and find out if any emergency medical assistance is required. You will be escorted into an area known as a comfort suite, these are dedicated rooms where victims of rape and serious sexual assault can talk in privacy and comfort.
Once you have told them what happened they may assign a dedicated officer to your case. These officers are specially trained to provide you with the help and support you need throughout the investigation and any subsequent judicial process. An officer will talk to you to answer four main questions:
- Who did this?
- What happened?
- Where did it happen?
- When did it happen?
Your details would be kept confidential however if there is a police investigation or prosecution linked to the assault that you have reported then the police may need to reveal your name while presenting their evidence to the court. If there is no prosecution or investigation, then your information will not be shared without your permission unless there is a cause for concern that anyone else may be at risk of serious harm.
As a general rule, your officer (usually a plain clothes constable) who has specialist training in the investigation of rape and serious sexual offences will keep you informed of how the investigation is going at least every 28 days or sooner if there are any updates.
Going to court
If the matter proceeds to trial the suspect, (known as ‘the defendant’) will have to attend. You won’t need to attend at this stage. The police and CPS can apply to the court for ‘special measures’ that can assist you when you subsequently give your evidence in court. Special measures can include giving evidence behind a screen or via a video link from another room. If the defendant pleads ‘not guilty’ to the crime, you will need to go to the Crown Court and appear as a witness. In this case, you will be referred to as a ‘witness for the prosecution’.
It is appreciated that you will be nervous but the police will help you and guide you through every step of the procedure and don’t worry about your anonymity, it is illegal for the media to use your name or give details that would make it able to identify you.
Damages
You can claim damages (compensation) in one of three ways: -
1 - Direct from the attacker
This is preferable as it gives a direct punishment for the crime, you have 3 years to bring a financial claim.
- There is no upper limit of the sum the court could allow;
- You can claim a loss of income (CICA has a 28-week window); and
- the courts prefer his approach as there is no cost to the public purse and is at the direct detriment of your attacker.
2 - Under the Criminal Injury Compensation Authority (CICA)
When claiming from the CICA, the funds would be coming from the public purse, meaning there would be no direct loss to the attacker’s assets. You must also submit your application to CICA within 2 years to bring a claim. You can only claim if you are incapable of working for more than 28 weeks before you can make a claim.
3 - From an employer
If the offence occurred at work, then we may be able to claim off the employer’s insurance, whilst this means that there is little damage to your attacker personally insurance companies have far deeper pockets than individuals.
How we can help
If appointed we would appoint a medical professional to evaluate your situation, their report will detail any injuries and the general prognosis. The expert’s report will form the basis of any claim and your caseworker will discuss their findings with you. If the attacker can be proven we would seek to work with the police to prevent duplication of reports etc. The police will look at the criminal aspect whilst we would look at the civil side. In effect this means claiming for damages (compensation), obviously this is far easier if they have been found guilty. As part of the compensation claim we would also include specialist costs so that your friend can receive face to face help from our appointed counsellors, physiotherapists etc.If we could attribute the assault to while the attacker was at work (such as an assault whilst in a care home, hospital, school) etc then we would also consider claiming under their insurance.
To gain our assistance you need to open a case, this is done by taking advantage of our free consultation service, activated by the link at the top of the page, should you wish to start a case the caseworker will send you the suitable payment link.
Please note your caseworker can only give generic advice, their role is to prepare your details for handling by our legal team and to act as your point of contact, they will also issue you with your Password and PIN, these will be needed to log onto your client dashboard. From your dashboard you will be able to manage and view every aspect of your case, upload documents, images, files etc.