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Anonymity law needs to be changed
A CAMBRIDGE graduate was charged with rape and spent nine anxious months
under suspicion before a jury threw out the case after just two-and-a-half
hours’ deliberation.
We have seen many cases like this over the years and the one thing that
always amazes me is the fact that the accused is named and carries the
stigma for ever more while the accuser is granted anonymity.
This does not seem fair by any stretch of the imagination.
It is as if there is one law for the men and one law for the woman.
I believe that both should be granted anonymity until the case has been
concluded and the guilty party can then be named whether it is the man
or the woman who falsely accused him.
I don’t have enough space to go into the details but reading the
evidence I fail to understand how the Crown Prosecution Service were convinced
that they had a strong case.
Even the judge was mystified as to how it got to court.
The anonymity bit goes back to 1976 and was done with the best of intentions
of course.
It was meant to encourage more victims to come forward without the fear
of publicity and embarrassment.
Last year a woman was jailed for falsely accusing a man of rape.
She had done it before but was never named. The law needs to be changed
to protect the innocent. |
