False Accusations

Sentenced to 6 Years Behind Bars -- Makeup Sex labelled as Rape A False Accusation Story from a Man Doing Time -- (Author Anonymous) Let me begin by saying that I am not an angel. I started the series of events that led me to be in prison. I am totally ashamed of what I did actually do, but what I was charged with and am now doing a heavy sentence for have left me a very bitter man. I went to confront my ex-wife about the way she was treating my children and the fact that she was taking her boyfriend back to the family home, something she swore she would never do. Whether my attitude on this part is right or wrong you will have to decide for yourself, but I was very angry. There was a heated argument during which I punched her. She had a very nasty black eye. I did that and I will be the first to admit I deserved to be punished for it. When I saw what I had done I felt terrible, my anger was gone, I could do nothing but apologise. She knew then that the ‘tone’ of the situation had changed. She knew that she was no longer ‘in the wrong’, she knew that she had control of the situation. Had she told me to leave I would have gone with my tail between my legs. But she didn’t . She invited me to go to bed with her. Yes, I know it may be hard to believe, and if someone had told me the same I doubt I would have believed it either, but that’s what happened. We both knew it was a sort of ‘kiss and make up exercise and after sex we spent a lot of time talking about how our marriage had broken down.  It was a very emotional time. She told me I had been a real bastard to her for fifteen years of our marriage. As she talked I was getting lower and lower, to where I didn’t want to live any more,  She had me convinced that everything was my fault. At one point that night I tried to slash my wrists. She stopped me. The following morning I left the house got in my car and drove. I drove for quite some time thinking about the things she had said. I still had it in my mind to commit suicide, but the more I thought about what she had said the more I came to realise that most of it was not true! I know I’m not perfect but most of what she had told me she had twisted to suit her way of thinking. That evening I returned home to find out that the police had been there looking for me, so I phoned them. It was obvious she had made a complaint about me punching her so I went to the police station to ‘face the music.’ I was charged with assault and they kept me in custody “Pending further enquiries.”   I was puzzled by this but I knew there was nothing else I had done so I wasn’t overly worried.  I didn’t even ask the solicitor. The following day I was charged with rape. It was then that my mind really flipped. I could not believe this was happening! I then of course asked for a solicitor. Two days later I was remanded in custody by the Magistrates Court and spent three months in jail waiting to go to Crown Court before being sentenced) I still remember the horror of going through the prison gates for the first time. I had never been in trouble in my life before. I fully accepted the fact that I would be punished for the assault, but I had been charged with RAPE. I still kept thinking there had been a terrible mistake, Once inside the prison I insisted on not being segregated, on rule 43, and was put on a normal wing - my first big mistake! The place was like an animal house; you really had to watch your back. It seemed most of the people there were regulars. They all seemed to know each other and I stuck out like a sore thumb. I was questioned by prison officers on the wing as to why I was there. When the word rape was mentioned it went quiet, but when they found out who had accused me the whole atmosphere changed. They started to laugh and told me not to worry about it. They told me she would drop the charges, that wives and ex-wives and girlfriends always did and ‘there is nothing like a woman scorned.’ A senior police officer had said almost the same thing a few days before; “Don’t worry about it, she was your wife, it’s not as if you’ve dragged somebody off the street.” (I’ve met this attitude quite a lot.) They seemed to think it was funny. I didn’t, I had been charged with RAPE. Throughout all my time spent on remand I kept thinking it was all a mistake, that she would come to her senses and stop it all. I could not believe she would accuse me of such a thing and could not understand why she would do it. That was the longest three months in my life.  I began to calm down when I thought about going to court. I had not done this thing and that there was no way the justice system in this country (the best in the world, ha bloody ha!) Would find me guilty of something I hadn’t done. That was until I met with my solicitor for the first time! He left me with no doubt that it would be very difficult to prove my innocence. Prove my innocence! I always thought it was the other way around - I was innocent until proven guilty.  (What a naive fool!) When I finally got to read her statements I really thought nobody would believe such a load of nonsense. I spent a lot of time writing notes on these statements and the rest of the ‘evidence’ for my solicitor, pointing out the many obvious lies. Her whole story was a farce, she even put me in positions that were physically impossible! When I put these points to my solicitor, all he said was, “Yes they are good points but you still cannot prove consent!” He told me that because she had a black eye she was fifty yards ahead of me and he was making it very plain I had little hope of winning the case against me. I could not believe this was happening. We’ve all seen Colombo on the telly, always getting to the truth in the end, we’ve all seen ‘The Bill’ the nice policeman always sorts out who’s telling the truth, we’ve all seen Rumpole of the Bailey sorting it out in court! We all believe this is the way it happens in real life. Bullshit! In real life nobody give a damn. All a sex case is, is an easy nick for the police and a pay packet for solicitors and barristers. I was brought up to respect the law, I now have nothing but contempt for the whole crooked system. If you believe nothing else, believe me when I say the whole system in this country is very badly flawed. By the time I got to speak with my barrister (ten minutes before I was due in court to enter my plea), I had been convinced I was going to prison for something I hadn’t done. The barrister told me if I pleaded ‘not guilty’ I would probably be sentenced to about nine years. If I went guilty I would get about six (which was what the judge later told me as well, too much of a coincidence for me to believe that everything is ‘on the level’. I know everybody on the ‘outside’ would say that they would never plead ‘guilty’ to something they hadn’t done. I would have said exactly the same, until you find yourself in this position. I pleaded guilty. I was convinced I had no chance, not only by what my solicitor and barrister had been telling me but every official I had come across (whilst being in the system on remand) had said near enough the same thing, not that I was guilty but that I had no chance of being found innocent. Even a psychiatrist who interviewed me said she knew I hadn’t committed rape. She told me she had spoken to hundreds of men like me, that I was a classic case, but that nobody would believe me. Even the judge who sentenced me would not accept my guilty plea at first! When I was brought before him he told the prosecutor that he was not accepting my plea. I was then sent back to the cells. When I went back before him some thirty minutes later his attitude had completely changed. I think if he had had the power to hang me he would have. I think this could only be from what my own barrister had said to him , the same barrister who minutes later put up such a poor case in mitigation for me that he left me stunned. He told the judge that I was still writing to my children (What could that possibly mean?) And that I had a good reference from my place of work, so good that they were keeping my job open for me. He then said that this meant my employers could not know the seriousness of the case! (Scratch one reference.)  He said nothing for my good whatsoever. Rumpole would die of shame! I was sentenced to six years of which I will actually serve four. I have been inside now for two years, the halfway mark. For the first year every night I went to sleep dreaming of how I could get my revenge on this woman I once loved, who still is mother to my children. Then after hearing my story, an ‘official’ here asked me (if what I had told him was true) if she could live with what she had done, that was enough for me, no more thoughts of revenge. I have paid the price for what I did do, she will have to live with the knowledge of what she has done for the rest of her life, I now feel very sorry for her. Being in prison is not easy no matter what ‘outsiders’ think. This is very stressful way to exist. Worst of all, it does no good. I live with true ‘sex offenders’. I have to associate with some very bad people, not dangerous to me; most are normal seeming people that you would talk to every day. Then you find out what they’ve done, (you usually do find out) you still talk to them. Play pool with them, laugh and joke with them. You have to blank it to keep your sanity.  I honestly think if you thought about who you live with and work with you could very well go insane. It is very difficult to explain to somebody what it is like to be in jail for something you haven’t done. Most don’t believe you anyway and you get to the stage where you think “Why bother?” There are a few people here who are in the same situation as myself (It is easy to sort the wheat from the chaff, you can see the frustration on their faces every day.) As I said, I am now halfway through this nightmare. Looking back, it has gone quite quickly. I hope the second half goes as fast. One day I will be released; this thought scares me quite a lot. I know how easy it is for a woman to accuse you of doing something and how difficult it is for you to prove otherwise. The system as it stands really needs to be examined and altered. At the moment a man can be imprisoned with little or no evidence against him other than the word of a woman. It is about time the public was informed about how bad our legal system is. I have a son, in a couple of years he will be getting involved with women. It scares me that one day he could annoy a girlfriend or break off a relationship; will he than also suffer from some woman’s vengeance? They keep telling us women don’t falsely accuse men, that they wouldn’t go through the heartache that follows. As I am writing this I have on my table a magazine article entitled “I cried rape” - a true story of a woman who admits to falsely accusing a man. The most disturbing part is when she admits the lie to her friend. “She actually told me that she could understand why I’d done it. She’d even thought of doing something similar to get her own back once. That’s when I realised how easy it is to do something like this and how many women must come close to it.” That is from a woman; how long will it be before men wake up to the fact that every time they even chat up a woman they are walking on dodgy ground. I have been asked to write this about what has happened to me and my feelings about this situation. I am not very good at this sort of thing but I hope I’ve got across the frustration and hopelessness I feel. I am not going to sign these papers, only one person will know who wrote them. (This article was originally published in the 68th issue Everyman A Men’s Journal, Apr-Jun 2005)