A RAPE victim who successfully challenged the decision to cut her compensation because she had been drinking has offered to help legal experts boost conviction rates for the crime north of the border.
'Helen' created national headlines last week after overturning a decision to cut her compensation by 25% because she had been drinking at the time of the attack.
In her first full newspaper interview since the case was decided, Helen told Scotland
on Sunday she would continue to battle for the rights of other victims of sexual assault.
She branded the conviction rate for rape in Scotland as "shockingly poor" and said she wanted to join an expert group – led by the Lord Advocate – which is looking at how to improve the situation.
But Helen acknowledged progress was already being made and heaped praised on a pilot scheme for a sexual assault referral centre in Glasgow. The centres, which are independent of the police, offer 24-hour support and forensic testing and have already improved conviction rates in the area.
Helen's case came to light last Tuesday when it was revealed the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) cut her payment of £11,000 to £8,250 because she had been drinking before the assault.
Helen was raped in London in 2004 after going out for dinner and drinks with a friend.
Although nobody was charged or convicted for the crime, Helen was entitled to claim compensation for the "psychological injury" of rape, having reported the crime. After the assault, Helen had a nervous breakdown and has not returned to work since.
The reduction of compensation was seen to suggest she was partly responsible for the rape and, on review, the CICA agreed to pay her the full amount. It also admitted that 14 other women this year had their payments docked for the same reason.
Helen hopes to use her experience to help protect women from rapists in the future.
She told Scotland on Sunday: "Reporting my rape was one of the hardest things I've ever done. I was intimidated and embarrassed by the system, by police officers asking personal questions like my bra size and asking if I drank a lot.
"I had to have photos taken of my naked body and the injuries and at times I felt like I wished I had never started it.
"At times I felt like it was my fault, but I was determined to fight for some kind of justice and I think a lot of women give up before that."
Helen now wants to carry on fighting for other women. "I would like to be included in the expert group on sexual crime, or even if they would take a written submission from me," she said. "I volunteered to be an expert on rape once before when they were looking into bringing specialist experts into court rooms. I was told I couldn't, but I think I am pretty expert on it.
"I knew nothing about rape when it happened and that's the thing, most people don't. I would like to help women know more so if it happens they have more options."
Scottish Lord Advocate Elish Angiolini QC has gathered an expert group on sexual crime, including prosecutors, police officers and members of Rape Crisis Scotland, to discuss how to improve the conviction rate.
Helen said a positive step for Scotland would be to open more sexual assault referral centres. The first centre in Scotland, at Sandyford in Glasgow, opened in December as a pilot scheme. The centre offers independent medical and emotional support and performs forensic tests to show signs of rape that are used in court, which has helped improve conviction rates around the 19 centres in England and Wales.
Helen, who went to a centre called the Haven in London, said: "I think it's absolutely vital to have the centres. I couldn't have done this without them. I couldn't have even managed to file the report with the police.
"All the doctors and nurses have experience of working with rape victims so they know how you might react, your injuries, and they make you feel very normal and safe."
In June the Scottish Government announced a Bill to reform rape laws in Scotland to strengthen and clarify the law against sexual offences.
No one was available for comment from the Crown Office.
'If I took the money it would have been tainted'WHEN rape victim Helen discovered her compensation was being cut because she was drinking before her attack, she felt the system was blaming her for the crime.
"If I took the money it would have been tainted," she says. Referring to the decision to cut her claim by a quarter, she added: "I thought 25p in each pound will say you did this to yourself. Whatever I bought with it, a quarter of it would make me feel terrible."
Having suffered a nervous breakdown after the rape, Helen could not return to work and had lived on benefits for four years.
It made the money more tempting when it was offered to her in February this year, but she was determined to clear her name.
"In my mind they were telling me I was partly responsible for being raped," says Helen. "I knew getting a review from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority would take another two years, and it had already been dragging on for four years since it happened, and I didn't know if I was strong enough.
"But I was so angry I just wanted someone to listen, and I'm glad I did because we've revealed something the CICA was doing that was really immoral."
On review, the CICA relented and paid her the full amount, withdrawing, in Helen's opinion, its assertion that she was responsible because she was drinking.
"People think women have one default setting which is to drink themselves into oblivion," she says. "You can have a couple of glasses of wine and be fine, as I was. But the first thing anyone would say is, 'You've been drinking,' as if you have somehow brought it on yourself. I think it's really unfair."
Helen hopes speaking publicly about her experience will give hope to other victims.
"People think women are a lot more liberated than they are. It means women doubt themselves if they have been raped rather than saying, 'He shouldn't do this to me,'" she says.
The full article contains 1079 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
