Women lying about being raped to claim compensation

NCD News: Making men out to be potential victims does not help future rape cases - 21.09.09

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Women lying about being raped to claim compensation: Women in the UK may be accusing men of rape simply to get the thousands of pounds compensation. This can only have the effect of bringing into disrepute the action of reporting a rape and could make true victims even less likely to report the crime.

Two recent cases have highlighted this sad state of affairs and show how the table may well be turned on women who falsely accuse men of rape.

Sarah-Jane Hilliard had accused Grant Bowers of raping her and immediately applied for compensation from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority. She was found out after investigations found that her story had been lies and her friend was unable to corroborate her story. Meanwhile Mr Bowers has been left traumatised by the events and claims to have lost his confidence. However, a recent ruling may well allow Mr Bowers to claim compensation himself.

Clive Bishop of Somerset was accused of raping 17 year old Kirsty Palmer after collecting her in his taxi in February 2007. He claimed he was badly treated by the police, had to give up his job and suffered depression and anxiety. He was finally told just two days before he was due to report back to the police, that the case had been dropped and Palmer had pleaded guilty to lying about the incident.

Mr Bishop has since gone on to win a landmark ruling and has received permission to apply for compensation. He has also won damages from Miss Palmer.

This new precedent may well open the floodgates for those accused of rape and who are found not guilty to sue their accuser and to claim compensation. It seems that this is happening already. Anthony Hunt was found guilty of rape in 2003 and was recently released on appeal. In July this year he asked the courts to be allowed to sue his accuser for £300,000. He is suing the woman even though the case was brought by the CPS.

While the accused is able to apply for compensation if cleared of the charge, women who have been raped and have proven it in court, are trying to bring civil cases against their attackers. In the case of John Worboys who was found guilty of raping several women , the victims want to receive civil damages from Worboys and not claim compensation. They argue that they do not want to receive public money. It seems quite right that Worboys should pay for his crime not the public.

In an environment where only 6% of rapists are convicted and the majority of rapes are never reported, the actions of the two women above will have been a crucial blow in the fight against these types of crimes.

Women are still treated as though they brought the crime onto themselves. This is evidenced by the case of a woman who had her compensation cut by 25% after the judge said that she had contributed to the attack by being drunk. This was eventually overturned, but the CICA admitted they had done this in 14 other cases.

It was bad enough when people think "she was asking for it" - now to add "she's probably lying" to the mix seems to completely undermine fairness, impartiality and potential justice for those who are victims of rape.

This is one area where compensation can only be offered if a conviction has taken place. But that leaves 94% of women who claim to have been raped (and bring it to court) who will receive nothing. It is notoriously difficult for a woman to prove rape and often the accused does walk free. There is certainly an argument for taking money out of the equation and offering counselling and other support instead - for both rape victims and those falsely accused.

Whilst these headline cases will certainly emphasise the innocent-til-proven-guilty issue of men and rape, it will have seriously damaged the credibility of future victims and lowered the chances of such victims coming forward. Is lying about it as bad as committing it? In overall effects to the public as a whole, that is something difficult to prove but certainly worth pondering whilst weighing up punishment for false accusers. Sadly, the harsher the punishment, the more likely it is to put off terrorised victims from coming forward. †