Alleged Rape Victim Awarded £15k Over PSNI Failings

A vulnerable alleged rape victim is to be awarded £15,000 for failings in the PSNI investigation into her complaint, a High Court judge has ruled. Mr Justice McAlinden held that the woman’s human rights were breached by the operational and systemic shortcomings identified. The woman – referred to as C in court proceedings – is in her 30s and has Asperger’s syndrome, She reported being raped by a man during a night out in June 2007. A decision was subsequently taken not to prosecute her alleged attacker, who maintained any activity was consensual. But in the first lawsuit of its kind in Northern Ireland, the woman sued the police over its handling of the investigation.

Psychiatric injuries: She claimed the flawed investigation violated her entitlement to freedom from inhuman or degrading treatment under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Her lawyers argued that she went on to suffer distress, psychiatric injuries, depression, psychotic symptoms and an eating disorder. The court heard police only interviewed C six months after the date of the alleged attack.

Following the no prosecution decision, her family lodged a complaint with the Police Ombudsman. In 2009, the watchdog recommended at least two police officers be subjected to disciplinary sanctions over the handling of the case. The Ombudsman concluded that the PSNI probe did not meet the basic principles of investigation.

Read more: BBC News, https://is.gd/nUqwA9