Report turns spotlight on withdrawal of rape cases

MORE than a third of the complainants in the more than 1 500 cases of rape or attempted rape reported each year in Namibia end up withdrawing the charges.

The number of cases that are withdrawn before they go to trial shows that the criminal justice system continues to fail more than one in three rape complainants.’We as a society can do more to help them,’ lawyer Dianne Hubbard, Co-ordinator of the Legal Assistance Centre’s Gender Research and Advocacy Project, said in Windhoek on Wednesday at the launch of a new report on the withdrawal of rape cases in Namibia.’A rape complainant who proceeds with his or her case is performing a service to society at large, and needs our support and assistance,’ Hubbard said.’Imagine reporting a traumatic crime of an intimate nature, and how hard it must be to have to describe what happened to the Police and again in front of strangers in a courtroom. Imagine that the rapist is someone from your own small community, and the community or even your own family blames you for what happened.’Little wonder then that such a substantial portion of rape and attempted rape cases are withdrawn.The payment of compensation is the most frequently cited reason for the withdrawal of rape and attempted rape cases in Namibia, it was found in the course of the study done by the LAC after the completion of an extensive earlier study on rape in Namibia in 2007.Compensation comes in different forms in different parts of Namibia, he report notes. THE REGIONSIn north-central Namibia, for example, compensation is most often paid in the form of livestock, with the intervention of a traditional leader. At Keetmanshoop in the south of the country, compensation is more likely to be paid in cash as a result of negotiations between families.’It is easy to understand why some complainants might prefer to resolve rapes by means of compensation,’ Hubbard said on Wednesday.’Our criminal justice system currently offers the victim very little in the way of support or compensation, aside from the satisfaction of seeing a criminal put behind bars. Unlike a criminal case, which can drag on for years, compensation is speedy and private, and it can give the rape complainant a sense that concrete reparation has been made as well as providing welcome financial assistance to the person who has suffered the wrong.’The problem with resolving a rape case through the payment of compensation is that complainants are sometimes pressurised into accepting compensation against their will, or are sometimes not even involved in the decision, Hubbard said. It was found that some women accept compensation because of family pressure or because they fear that the rapist may harm them. ‘In such cases this choice is not really a choice at all,’ Hubbard said.It is also a major worry that the payment of compensation leaves an offender free to possibly repeat the same sort of crime. Hubbard said: ‘(O)ne of the biggest concerns is that compensation does little to prevent rapes since it allows the rapist to walk free. Around the world, studies have shown that rapists have a particular tendency to repeat their crimes. And in our study, too, we were told of situations where rapists went on to rape again after their first or second victims withdrew their cases.’The Police and prosecutors are urged to take a tough line against people who try to coerce victims to withdraw their cases, Hubbard said.After compensation, the next most commonly cited reasons for rape case withdrawals are family pressure and shame. This, Hubbard said, is ‘a sure sign that families and communities are not giving rape victims the support they need and deserve. As a nation are we still blaming the victims for being raped?’CASES TAKETOO LONGOther reasons cited include a lack of information available to a complainant, complaints that the prosecution of rape cases take too long before being finalised, threats of physical harm directed at complainants, and a fear that there would not be sufficient evidence to convict an accused rapist.’The law provides options to address situations where intimidation occurs, but in practice rape complainants are still being frightened,’ Hubbard said. ‘Clearly there is a need for rape complainants to have better information on what to do if they receive threats, and a need for prompt and effective follow-up if such threats are reported to police or prosecutors.’Hubbard said: ‘Some women reported fears that the rape case will drag on too long, or that they will go through the trauma of a court case and then find that there was not enough evidence for a conviction. These factors point to a need for prompter investigation and prosecution. And again, rape complainants need more information – information about what to expect in court, about the realistic chances for a successful prosecution and about the provisions for vulnerable witnesses which can make the court experience less uncomfortable for them.’A key recommendation is that Government and civil society should work together to establish sustainable victim support programmes which can assist complainants both before and after their cases have been resolved.EXPLORINGTHE OPTIONSSaid Hubbard: ‘(F)ew women know how to proceed after the case has been reported, and have no idea where to turn for help in the months and years between the reporting of the case and its ultimate conclusion. Here, we are letting them down.’It is also recommended that prosecutors should be assigned to rape cases at an early stage and that they should ensure that complainants receive ongoing information about their cases, about victim-friendly courts where these are available and about other options for reducing the trauma of a court appearance.Counselling services tied to the Women and Child Protection Units also need to be expanded so that a social worker, counsellor or community survivor supporter is assigned to every rape complainant at the time that a case is opened, Hubbard said. It is further suggested that, as a mechanism to guard against intimidation, a social worker should be required to sign a rape complainant’s withdrawal statement before it is finalised.There is also a need for more shelters or other safety nets for rape complainants who are afraid of continuing with their cases because of pressure at home or threats of harm from the rapist or his family, Hubbard said.On the issue of compensation, she added: ‘We urge traditional leaders to refuse to sanction exchanges of compensation that are arranged without the personal involvement and unpressurised agreement of the rape victim, and we suggest that the Law Reform and Development Commission might even consider enacting a law specifically prohibiting ‘coercive compensation’ – to target rapists or anyone who is pressuring complainants to accept money for withdrawing charges.’werner@namibian.com.na