'There is no one way rape victims are supposed to act and no one type of offender'

A Derby court has sought to challenge misconceptions around how a rape victim is supposed to act and what is expected of a rapist. During a Derby Family Court case this month, Recorder Lois Aldred passed a judgement about a father-of-two who is found to have had sex without consent with his 16-year-old daughter on numerous occasions.

As part of her two and half hour judgement, Recorder Aldred said: “There is no typical response to rape. Sometimes it is counterintuitive. There is no typical perpetrator. They come from all walks of life and can be in long-term relationships.

“When under threat the brain will initiate a survival instinct, and that can be not just ‘fight or flight’, it may be ‘befriend’. Some tell their friends and some don’t through shame.

“A delayed allegation is not equivalent to being a false allegation and the memory can be affected in a number of ways.” Recorder Aldred said it was completely normal for a victim to remember some incidents in explicit detail and others with far less recollection.

She said it was also normal for younger victims to recall information out of sequence, instead of in a perfect chronological order. Recorder Aldred said it was commonly known that younger people were more impressionable and open to suggestion, making interview methods crucial.

She detailed how important it was in general and also in that specific case that the “exemplary” method of the police’s interview of the young girl was vital in how it did not lead responses but left space for her to explain herself, with police prompting clarity without planting ideas. Recorder Aldred said it was normal for younger victims to lead with “headline effects” and to not embellish, due to the nature of sharing private information which may make them feel shameful – particularly when sharing with an adult.

She said: “Those who are abused can maintain a friendly relationship with those who have abused them.” This can often show itself as someone who is calm and unaffected, and even bubbly and normal after the reporting of allegations of rape, but this does not mean they are not suffering mental health issues and that the allegations are false.

She also said that the victim not appearing in court also does not mean their account is false, because they may – as in this case – be trying to “get on with her life and forget this chapter”.

When evidence was being analysed about the young girl’s lack of detail when discussing her experience with her boyfriend, Recorder Aldred interjected, saying: “This is a 16-year-old girl talking to her boyfriend. Can it really be expected that she would retell all the detail that she had shared in her police interview? She had to be asked further and further questions by police to get all of that account out.

“There is clear reluctance to tell the police the full account straight away.” When questions were asked about the lack of questions from her friends when she told them her father had had sex with her, Recorder Aldred again interjected to remind legal representatives to “consider this in the level of communication between teenagers”.

Recorder Aldred made these comments in a case the Local Democracy Reporting Service was permitted access to under the ongoing national family court reporting pilot. She permitted the reporter to write articles on the case, with restrictions not to identify anyone involved, including the victim and aggressor, and also permitted the release of a number of documents prepared for the case.

In her judgement, Recorder Aldred said that the father had had sex without consent with his then 16-year-old daughter in hotel rooms numerous times while travelling around the UK following a sports team and that this then continued on countless occasions in the home they shared with the father’s partner and her son – often while staying up late to watch sports games on TV, sometimes in or on his bed.

This occurred between December 5, 2021 and January 29, 2022. Other proven facts were the father’s touching of his 16-year-old daughter’s private parts and him forcing her to touch his own private parts.

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