The survivor of a serial rape gives her ideas

PROBLEMS

Attitude

There was a prevalent attitude that somehow the rape survivors in the serial rape case I was in that survivors of that serial rapist were to blame for the rape. That we knew the rapist and that there was a drug connection.

I was told that rape was a low priority and police did not have the resources to focus on rape. In fact, the serial rape cases had been virtually ignored until there was publicity

.Ignorance and insensitivity

I was told that I was a "plain Jane" and all the other rape victims were also "plain Janes"

At the first identity parade I was ushered into a room full of men, my name and address was read out and I was told to touch the "rapist" as a means of identifying him.

Inept police work

Critical evidence was not collected, for example, a very good likeness of the rapist was captured by a professional portrait artist and this was ignored.

An identikit and sculpture were produced based on input from a rape survivor who had not had an opportunity to see the rapist properly. Despite the fact that we told the police that these did not resemble the rapist in any way, these identikits were publicised.

Crucial forensic evidence was lost

The rape survivors input was ignored, for example, the rapist had mentioned that he was doing a course at the Technikon. We told the police this and nothing was done about it. The rapist was a Technikon student

SOLUTIONS

Education, education and education

This is absolutely vital, given the rape statistics in South Africa. I think that as part of police training there should be a course on "RAPE", so that police have some sort of understanding of why men rape, how to treat rape survivors, how to collect evidence and so on. The course should be a collaborative effort between women's groups, rape survivors and the police.

Working with the survivors

I don't know whether my particular experience was unique, but in the serial rape case I was involved in police completely ignored input from the survivors, input which almost certainly would have resulted in the rapist being caught two years earlier. But having said this, some rape survivors are very keen to get involved and some not - so this has to be treated sensitively.

© Speak Out Terms of use