The Unspeakable Crime: Rape

This programme contains some strong language.

This programme contains scenes which some viewers may find upsetting.

My friends, the people who know me, they say,

"What? Juliet got raped?"

Yeah, it...it happened to me.

SHE EXHALES

Big, strong, confident, outgoing,

not scared of anybody or anything,

Juliet, yeah, she got raped.

SHE SOBS

SHE EXHALES

It is just as filthy and awful and vile as I remember it,

even in the cold light of day.

And every single day, you think, "Christ!

"How...how...how am I going to get through the day?"

No, I can't go down there. Can't do it.

I'm never ever going to be the same again.

For the first time ever, St Mary's,

the UK's leading sexual assault referral centre,

opened their doors to allow us to film them

dealing with the victims of rape.

From forensic medical to court and beyond.

I just feel like he's just ruined my life. I can't move on.

It's just constant, it's just constantly there.

Over the course of a year, we followed the team

as they supported Juliet through an entire police investigation...

Just literally following her step by step through her...her evening.

SHE SOBS

How can I not...have remembered something like that?

..and the subsequent trial.

This is mental.

And through the staff of St Mary's, we gained a unique perspective

on rape in Britain today.

We're all frightened by this type of crime.

We're all frightened about the stigma that it attracts

and what people will say.

You're doing really well.

And I think we need to get over that fear and talk about it openly.

St Mary's was the first of the UK's 46 sexual assault referral centres.

It covers the Greater Manchester and Cheshire area.

And it's here, to the small all-female team of doctors,

crisis workers and counsellors,

that the police bring people who say they've been raped

to conduct a forensic examination.

Female came in at 8:50 last night.

Her ex-partner turned up at her address. He was drunk.

He said he was going to shag her. He took his pants down.

She tried to push him away.

Threatened to kill her if she said anything afterwards.

Although we know rape and sexual assault happens,

the extent and the numbers that we see,

I think that's quite shocking when you first come to join the team.

She's 19. She got home and did not lock the door.

And it happens to anybody.

She's 51. Alleged assailant was a friend.

He's 32.

A male grabbed him from behind.

She's eight.

Sexual assault by second cousin.

The youngest case that we've seen here was three weeks old.

And the eldest, 96.

An 80-year-old female.

He's a friend, aged 88.

He met her at a day centre.

The overarching role

is to gather good-quality evidence

to assist in a potential investigation.

But alongside that is providing the immediate emotional response

to victims of rape and sexual assault.

Obviously, today you've come for a medical examination.

But also to try and take some DNA swabs.

Because it is part of an investigation, as well as being for your health,

we need to be thorough and make sure everything's watertight.

Hi. The police have asked me to do this medical examination

because of what's happened last night.

We'll examine you from top to toe

to see if you've got any injuries, if that's all right with you.

Have you had a bath, a wash or a shower?

Now, I know that feels really awful,

but it is better in terms of us collecting the evidence.

Just out here.

This is to get a sample of your DNA

to compare with the other samples if they're needed.

So if you could just pop your mouth like that.

The idea behind St Mary's

is for one place to be able to provide support for victims

through a possible police investigation and beyond.

OK.

Hi, it's Juliet. I've got an appointment with Gail.

-"To the left on the top floor."

-Thank you.

Juliet came for her forensic medical on New Year's Day 2012.

They said that however difficult it was going to be for me

that she would be as gentle as she possibly could,

but she did need to get the evidence.

I'm just looking for any bruises or marks you might have.

And she said, you know, at any point you can stop and have a breather,

but she says, "Juliet, we have to do it if you want...

"if you want to get somebody."

The most difficult bit of this part is me to get two pairs of gloves on.

I've got to put another layer on.

And then you're lying down on your back...

and then somebody's taking swabs.

If anything feels uncomfortable, let me know.

If you want me to stop, just say.

And it was over.

I mean, it felt like an eternity, but it was over...fairly quickly.

-All done.

-Thank you.

-Are you OK?

-Yeah.

Far cry from the old days.

The bag of samples is here.

Where, you know, you'd have a male doctor examining you,

probably in a police station somewhere, I don't know.

That, to me, would be horrifying.

The centre has been open for over 26 years.

To preserve their anonymity, each client is numbered.

And Juliet is client number 15,823.

Right, so this is, er...Juliet.

Came in, er...New Year's Day.

She was the fourth one that day.

We'd had seven New Year's Eve,

so it had been quite a busy, busy time.

Attended with the police.

Describes her as being alert, co-operative, er...

it says very tearful, plus, plus.

Two days later, Juliet went to the police station

to record her version of events.

Now six months on, she's returning to view her DVD

before it's used as evidence in court.

You sit where you want to sit.

OK. I'll probably just sit in this comfy chair.

Gail from St Mary's

has been supporting Juliet throughout the investigation.

Have you got some tissues?

-I'll get some.

-I am the pocket pack lady, don't worry.

We did this on the 3rd of January?

Yes. Yeah, it's quite some time ago now.

Yeah, but it was very short after the...rape.

So I'm still very much traumatised.

That's what's going to be weird to see.

Ahem!

I'll turn that round.

OK?

I look a mess!

I just look completely dazed.

I don't look like me. That doesn't look like me.

Do you want me to fast-forward through this bit?

-It is the introductions, this.

-Yeah.

You don't need to watch all that part.

Just going through the initial accounts.

Last night, had drunk a bottle of wine prior to going out.

Went to the Black Dog Ballroom, city centre.

Went alone, as a friend did not show.

Sat on a bar stool by the bar drinking bottle of wine.

Went to the bathroom.

Came back, had a shot and then she felt very drunk.

I've got a vague memory of a shot.

I didn't know where it came from.

I just assumed it was the barman.

And I remember feeling really out of it and going,

"What the hell are you doing here, Juliet? Go...home."

And it's blank.

Blank.

I don't remember anything.

Next memory was outside the bar, going towards a car park.

Er...sees a black hand, er...leading the way,

and then no recollection.

My next memory...

..and I didn't remember this until the next morning,

and it's in an alleyway.

A man is forcing his penis in my mouth

and he's got my hair

and he's...pulling my, my face, my mouth.

And I remember gagging and choking.

And I remember thinking...

.."I could bite it and it'll stop."

But he hit me and said, "Watch the teeth, bitch!"

SHE SOBS

Oh!

Fucking hell!

The doctor's used quite a few body charts to document the injuries.

So head...there was swelling.

In her mouth, there was

what's described as multiple petechial haemorrhages,

like pinprick, small bruises.

We sometimes see that with forced oral penetration.

It's interesting that they mention the gag reflex,

and that's what's thought to cause this, is the gagging.

The doctor's actually made a video

of the internal examination of the mouth.

So, can you see lots of tiny little bruises?

You have to think, is there anything else that could have caused it?

Um...so, you know, sucking on loads of hard sweets might do it.

If there's any sign of throat infection or anything like that.

But it's quite marked. You don't often see it as bad as that.

You don't have to watch it, you know.

I'd rather watch it here, Pam, than in court.

Yeah. Do you want to go outside and just have a breather?

-No. I'll just get through it.

-OK.

As New Year's Day wore on, I started feeling the pain.

I think I rang the police and said,

"My bag's been stolen

"and I think I've been sexually assaulted in an alleyway."

I remember saying to her, "I hurt.

"I'm really sore between my legs.

"Why would I be sore there?"

Let's have a little look.

So bruising on her arms, bruising on her right breast,

bruising on her thigh.

And then she had, um...an abrasion

just near the entrance of the vagina.

It hurts.

It hurts to sit, it hurts to walk,

it hurts to touch.

It's the only thing I have

that I know that something happened.

Because I don't remember.

SHE SOBS I don't remember what's happened.

Except the alleyway

and then somebody holding me there and holding me and holding me.

Oh, fucking hell!

SHE SOBS

How can I not...have remembered something like that?

Did it really happen?

There's lots of reasons, isn't there?

There could be lots of reasons why.

SHE SOBS

The doctor's then taken a whole host of forensic samples.

When you have a situation like this and it's a stranger,

if you were to find his DNA on the person,

well, there'd be a bit of explaining to do. How did that get there?

Um...you know, if it's on a hand, then it could be,

well, they were talking, there was contact. Um...

High vaginal swab?

There'd be a bit more explaining to do about how that got there.

I'm scared of how this is going to affect me.

Of looking at every man in the street and going, "Was it you?"

Oh!

Talk about a mind trip.

And watching that...

..I still don't remember.

And I still can't believe that it's happened.

I still...want it to have not happened.

I really do.

I really do.

I wish somebody would come and say,

"Juliet, you got it all wrong."

But I know that's not going to happen.

The perception is that stranger rape

is the most common relationship to the perpetrator.

That's not our experience.

The stranger rapes in the alleyway, they're really quite rare.

The vast majority are people that are known,

whether it's a partner, ex-partner, colleague.

And that's in the adults.

When you move into the children,

particularly the younger you go with the children,

the more likely it is to be somebody they know.

So the whole thing about stranger danger with children

is almost misdirected.

Because the vast majority, it'll be somebody that they know,

somebody that they trust.

This colour, the buff, is to say it's an adult.

So 18 and over.

And the red is for 17 and under.

Last year, 422 children.

And it's almost an even split

between sort of 13 to 18 and under 13.

Police referral. She's 13.

She had Internet and phone contact with a man.

Went to his flat.

She didn't understand ejaculation, but said the bed was wet.

She is five years old.

The assailant is a worker at the nursery.

Five-year-old. Alleged perpetrator's a 14-year-old.

Told Mum that he'd put his willy where wee-wee comes out.

So this is a four-year-old boy

where there's an allegation

of paternal grandfather doing something.

You know, from their perspective, it's going to see the doctor.

We try and make it as engaging for them as possible.

We've got our magic little, er...

"choose a treat", at the end.

So we have ways of entertaining them.

But a lovely, lovely little boy.

You can deal with some cases better than others, I think.

The children are always hard. Because our children...

Well, my youngest and Amrin's are the same age.

-So when you see children that age, that's what upsets me.

-Yeah.

Because I just want to take them home and look after them.

But you can't.

They're coming to get you. All the way!

We've taken the view that

if they've reached a threshold to come to see us,

then really, unless there's a good reason not to,

we ought to undertake

sexually-transmitted infection screening.

They can have finger prick blood testing

for Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, syphilis and HIV.

It's over quickly. That's it, done.

And, er...if a young person or a child

doesn't feel comfortable with having swabs of the outside...

of the genital area taken,

then we can just simply do a urine sample

and that will screen for gonorrhoea and chlamydia.

By and large, the screens are clear.

We do get some children who have sexually-transmitted infections,

and then obviously, we need to treat those appropriately.

But it can be very reassuring for families and for children

to know that they haven't picked up any infections.

It's drawing a line under that particular part of their journey.

In 2012, Greater Manchester Police

started a dedicated serious sexual offences unit,

bringing together over 70 detectives to investigate rapes.

In addition to the, um... the actual act,

has she stated if there's been any sort of other penetration?

Digital, or if there's been any oral sex or anything?

In the past, there may have been instances

where officers or investigators

have been very quick to maybe disbelieve a victim coming forward.

Part of the concept of setting up our unit

is that we will believe absolutely every person

that comes forward to us and makes a report.

And we will investigate it to the nth degree.

Um...does it...

has she said if she's washed or bathed?

The evidence will ultimately decide, if it is there,

as to whether somebody will be charged or not.

We'll try and get her to St Mary's tonight if she's willing to.

But it's such a complex area of investigation

in that, for instance, a rape within a domestic setting.

Does the victim, um...state

when she's last had sex with this lad, apart from yesterday?

There's four walls and two people.

It's very difficult to determine...

whether or not that offence has happened.

The decision as to whether a rape case gets to court

is made by the Crown Prosecution Service.

The Northern Greater Manchester branch

is on the first floor of Bolton police station.

So this is the Crown Court room.

And it's made up of, um...prosecutors

and paralegal officers.

And all the lawyers who deal with the rapes are rape specialists.

And Jill sits in here, as well, don't you?

Yes. My desk is in the corner.

So this is where Jill keeps all her cases

-that are waiting for charging decisions.

-Yes.

My role is to allocate those cases to a lawyer in the office.

And I would say 75% of them are rape cases.

So typically, a rape case will come in, um...

and it will be about this sort of size with a box folder.

And then there'll be the DVDs to go with it.

It can be quite shocking, but, you know,

you can't let yourself get too caught up in the emotion.

You've got to look at the evidence.

That's doing a job properly for the victim, as well.

There's no point giving somebody completely false hope

if, really, the evidence isn't there.

We have to be realistic about it

and...and be...be brave and make those decisions.

The police investigation into Juliet's case

is hindered by her inability to remember much about her assault.

They turn to the parts of her New Year's Eve covered by CCTV.

This is CCTV footage. That's the victim's movements.

Now, this is playing at twice speed. So front door, Black Dog.

Red arrow indicates Juliet approaching,

entering through the doors

and literally following her step by step through her evening.

I think she orders a bottle of wine, which is left on the bar with

a wine cooler and you can see her drinking through the night.

I think this is the point where she goes to the loo

and she's left her glass and her bottle on the bar.

I think if you just see now, you see her returning.

We've not been able to establish when she has this shot.

But this is as if something's just hit her straight away.

Now, she just looks like she is propping herself up.

Her head is obviously drooping and you know, I'm assuming,

and we've got nothing to contradict this,

that it's the bar staff that decide this girl's had enough.

They're not going to serve her any more and they contact the door staff.

This is when she gets ejected.

It's a difficult message to walk

because what we don't want to be doing is blaming the person.

The alcohol is not the rapist. The rapist is the rapist.

Clearly, we know from lots of different things,

that if you've had a lot of alcohol,

you are vulnerable to lots of things.

This is as she comes out, using the wall to support herself.

This was unfortunate, wasn't it?

Because she was meant to be meeting up with a friend

and for whatever reason that didn't happen.

Staggering all over the road.

And she certainly shouldn't be blaming herself,

I don't think, anyway, do you,

for being out on New Year's Eve drinking?

People will, though, that's the problem.

But again, I think that's the wrong way round to look at it.

People shouldn't be blaming themselves.

She's literally just holding on to that post.

She's actually in that position now for about the next 20 minutes.

It's important that as prosecutors we deal with what are likely

to be the issues that would be going through the minds of the jury.

You know, you wouldn't blame the victim of burglary

because they'd left the front door unlocked when they went to bed.

You wouldn't say, well, they deserved to be burgled, would you?

Well, I hope not.

-And acquit as a result.

-And acquit as a result.

But you wouldn't acquit the defendant of burglary

because the victim had left the front door open.

It's the same thing. You've walked home by yourself at 3am in the morning.

It's dark, you've got a short skirt on.

Well, that is just the same as leaving your front door open and being burgled, you know.

It doesn't entitle anyone to assume

that you're consenting to what happens.

And these are messages that have to be got over to the jury

as part of the prosecutor's presentation of the case.

When the smoking area clears, it's obviously coming up to midnight

and everybody's gone inside.

She then loosens her grip and falls and she actually lies on the floor.

And that's when the door staff come across and they tend to her.

There you go.

I think if someone had gone out and put a blanket over her,

she'd have probably slept until the morning.

You know, the law is very clear that you cannot have intercourse

with someone who is not capable of giving consent.

The CCTV evidence was very compelling in connection

with how intoxicated the complainant was on the night in question.

And on that basis, the decision was made that the case should proceed.

Because she just couldn't have consented in law to it

because she was just so drunk.

Now, the minute the door staff pick her from the floor

next to the lamp and move her across, we lose track of her.

Although the CCTV shows that Juliet could not consent to anything,

the assault itself is not covered on camera.

The next time Juliet is seen is over two hours later,

leaving an alley 40 metres away from the entrance to the club.

The Black Dog Ballroom is up on this top corner

and you can just see now Juliet comes staggering out.

The time there is showing at 2:08am.

So that's the two-hour gap.

And she's sort of hands out, swaying around.

So we know she's at point A and we know she ends up at point B.

It's what happens in the interim that erm, just...

..we can only surmise.

Without any witnesses to the rape, the only hope the police have

of filling in the missing details of what happened

to Juliet lies with the forensic samples taken at St Mary's.

She was very thorough.

It did hurt. I remember thinking, "Christ!"

But I was so tender anyway.

I was in so much pain anyway by this point.

And thank God the doctor was as thorough as she was.

When analysed, Juliet's swabs were found to contain semen.

The key piece of evidence in this case was the forensic evidence

because, of course, the victim had no actual recollection

of the vaginal penetration during the incident.

I've been trying to make sense of something that's happened that I can't even remember.

It's not there, that's what's so awful.

I just have the forensic evidence that said somebody

had sexual intercourse with me without me knowing. That's rape.

I didn't say I was raped, I was told.

I was, through forensics, told. That's pretty mind-blowing.

Forensic examinations are only one part of St Mary's work.

Last year, over 400 new clients were referred to the centre for counselling.

Well, we bought these magazines for the three comfy rooms.

However, before we put them in there, we need to check

that there's nothing about rape or sexual assault.

Or anything, really, that's offensive.

See, that will have to come out.

It's not something you need to be reading

while you attend here, really.

The only thing is, "Kick-start to the summer slim down" is ruined!

But never mind.

Kellie is coming to St Mary's for her first counselling session.

-St Mary's centre.

-Hi, it's Kellie to see Jo.

OK, will you come up to the second floor, please?

It's now eight months since she was raped.

It was a man that I'd known for quite a long time.

I'm 31 now. I'd known him since I was about 14, 15.

I'd been a drug addict, addicted to heroin since I was 13, 14.

Got involved in escorting, prostitution,

to make money to feed my drug habit.

And that's how I got involved with him.

So basically, he was a customer and I used to share drugs with him.

And then this one night in February, I went up to his flat

because I owed him a little bit of money and I was a bit late paying him back.

There will be cases, perhaps, where the victim

has had consensual intercourse in the past

or where the victim is a prostitute.

But that doesn't mean that they can't be raped.

'You watch the victim's DVD

'because that's going to be the key account',

and just hear what she says.

I just had a bit of money and I had, like, four things on me,

I had two crack cocaines and two heroin, like, bags of heroin.

I said, I can give you money and give you one of each.

So he said, we'll go to mine, we'll do it at mine.

There was no mention of doing business or anything like that.

So we went back to his flat.

And when we went in the flat, he locked the door.

I'd gone into the front room and started smoking it.

He's gone into the kitchen to go and start preparing to inject it.

And he said, "You can sort me out and then you can go."

And I said, "Shabs, I don't want to."

When he said, "Sort me out", he meant do sex or something with him.

And he said, "You better go in that front room, you better get undressed."

And when I've... Because he was injecting the crack

and he liked to have sex when he had the rush of the crack.

And that's when I started crying and saying, "Please just let me go."

And he said, "No, you are not going anywhere."

He started talking, saying he was going to ram things up me

and he was going to torture me.

She was a sex worker. She used drugs.

Both of those things, she was absolutely frank about.

Obviously, had she not been honest about that in the first place, but it had come out,

that would have cast some questions over her evidence.

But she was entirely frank right from the beginning.

He said, "Just help me get my dig and then do something with me

"so I come and then I'll let you go."

So eventually I managed to find a vein for him and injected him.

Erm, then he's told me to...

..like, to suck him off.

And he's stood in the front room. So I started to do that.

I was crying while I was doing it.

On this occasion, she did not want to have intercourse and on her account,

the defendant can have been in no doubt that she was not consenting.

Then he told me to get on the couch and he got on top of me.

And he was having sex with me

and I was crying my eyes out and he shouted at me for crying

and told me to stop crying and said,

"You make me feel like I'm raping you."

And I just thought to myself, "You bastard. You are.

"I told you I don't want to do this, I told you I want to go

"and you won't let me. You're making me do this before I go."

And then after about ten minutes, he finished.

And as soon as he finished I just got up,

grabbed my clothes really, really quick and then he let me out.

In some cases, a victim of rape will get on the phone

to report the matter to the police straight away.

But really, that in itself is quite unusual.

It can take some time for a victim really to appreciate

the impact of what's happened to them and we can't make any

assumptions about anything that a victim will do.

I sent him a text saying, you do realise

when a girl is sobbing, crying her eyes out, begging to leave,

not wanting to have sex with you, but having to do it anyway

so that you'll let her leave, that is rape.

And obviously that made him angry because I sent that text message,

because then he were coming out looking for me

every night on the street after that when I was going out working.

I really did think that he was going to kill me, or something, I really did.

Never been so frightened in my life.

But it might sound crazy that I still kept going out there every night,

but I had a drug habit. I had no choice.

I still had to go out there and get money for my drugs.

After an altercation on the street was seen by the police,

Kellie told them what was happening.

And that officer that night was actually really good.

He was saying, if he did this a week ago but he's still harassing you every night,

then he's not going to leave you alone. You need to do something about it.

So would you class him as a punter?

No, not really. I classed him more as a friend.

More of a friend. OK. Right.

But I suppose, yeah, I suppose he was in a way.

He turned into punter, I suppose, yeah.

It came across as a very honest account.

Where you've got consent as the issue, the victim is the key to that

and how they give their account.

The police said I needed to get myself sorted out,

it was to do with being a credible witness or something.

But I'd already decided before then to get sorted out because I was too scared to go out there.

And I thought, I need to change my life.

So within a few weeks, I was in a hospital.

I got clean off everything, come out and I've been clean ever since.

After a six-day trial, 41-year-old Shahid Raza was found guilty

of two counts of rape, common assault and possession of an offensive weapon.

He was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years' imprisonment.

Me and my mum were shopping in ASDA when we got the phone call.

Me and my mum were just jumping around like lunatics in the middle of the supermarket.

It were just such a relief that I was believed.

I just didn't think I'd be taken seriously at all

because of who I was before it happened.

Obviously, I'm really glad I've got off the drugs.

The only hard thing about being off drugs is that

I don't have that thing any more to block my emotions.

When I was on drugs, nothing bothered me.

He just made me feel like I was nothing and worthless,

and even though I should know deep down that I'm not,

he's the one that did wrong, I've still carried on feeling that same way.

OK, all right. How long had you known him?

I'd known him for about maybe 12, 13 years.

You looked like... You sort of looked to the floor then.

I feel bad for him, even, because I'd known him for so long.

People think I'm crazy when I say I feel bad for him.

I have days where I think he deserves everything he's got.

He's putting me through this now.

Are you questioning yourself in a way,

in that you've been in this relationship with him?

I think, yeah, I do kind of blame myself a lot for what happened

because of the lifestyle I led at the time.

I think the research bears out that those individuals

that are assaulted by somebody that they know can suffer

more severe depression, for example, because actually, the clients

essentially start to question their own way of judging people.

You know, I made a judgement about them, I thought they were OK,

and actually, they've gone on to rape me.

17-year-old, and the assailant's her boyfriend.

He locks the flat when he goes out,

never uses condoms, always ejaculates,

chokes, slaps, punches her.

From what I've learnt over the years, the ones where it's

a stranger assault and you've got that safe home, you've still got that.

The rape is by the ex-partner.

Ongoing sexual and domestic violence.

The level of violence has become worse recently,

escalating from slapping right the way up to strangling.

Had no friends or family to stay with.

Should be in a women's refuge.

Where home is where the hurt is, then where is your place of safety?

Where do you get your support?

So that can make it incredibly difficult for them.

Juliet has been unable to identify the stranger who was with her in the alley.

However, the forensic examination at St Mary's has led to a breakthrough.

From the swabs, we got a DNA hit that is

the DNA from her swabs

matches another person, that person being Yussuf.

A 20-year-old male, Mustafa Yussuf, is brought in for questioning.

The only link the police can show between him and Juliet is his DNA.

He was interviewed initially after disclosure that he'd been

arrested for rape, and he gave a no comment interview.

He then came back and gave a further interview where he said he had

met a female, had sexual intercourse, but it was consensual.

31st December 2011.

This is at 11:56, or 11:57, it's just clicked over to.

And where the red arrow is is Mr Yussuf

strolling down the street, meeting acquaintances.

He said that he'd consumed a bottle of brandy before meeting Juliet.

So his defence, if you like, is,

"Well, I couldn't have known she didn't consent cos I was drunk,"

but I would say the footage there negates that totally.

You can see there, just in his hand is the bottle.

Now, to me, that looked like a water bottle.

It'll switch in a second and you'll see him going behind the shelving.

He's not banging into anything.

He's not using anything to support himself.

He goes through that action where he goes down to the floor,

almost squatting, and then manages to stand and walk round.

He's not falling over, taking out any shelving or anything like that.

Erm, he may well have had drink, but I would say, viewing that,

you could never say that he was drunk.

Obviously, you can never remain totally impartial.

You have a feeling about a victim or a feeling about an offender

and you work round that.

But, in the case of Juliet,

we're trying to build up two hours that she's missing.

We know something's happened.

The doctor's corroborated that,

but when his defence statement comes along and says, "Well, I was drunk,"

you say, "Well, hang on a minute, we've got footage of you here. This doesn't show you drunk."

Mustafa Yussuf does not fit the description of the man Juliet

remembers orally raping her.

But the CPS decide that the forensic evidence combined with the CCTV

is enough to charge him with vaginal rape.

The man on trial is the man who vaginally raped me.

I have no recollection of that, I didn't even know that had happened.

He could, you know, knock on the door and be selling me double glazing.

I wouldn't know who he is.

He could sit next to me on the bus. I wouldn't know who he is.

They got him from DNA, and that's been really, really difficult,

because I don't have anybody to focus my rage at.

I mean, unfortunately, people do make false reports.

People make false reports of all sorts of crime.

The priority, I think, we're going to need to get

any forensic opportunities examined first.

An arrest for any offence is extremely traumatic,

particularly if you're a law-abiding citizen.

To suddenly find yourself confined within four walls

of a police station, having medically-trained staff

examining your intimate parts...

Well, ideally, I'd like that particular area examined.

Glands, shaft, pubic hair, scissors and comb...

It must have a huge impact on them, and we have to look after

a rape suspect just as much as we look after a rape victim.

Once you've been arrested for rape, you've got a stigma attached to you,

and it's very difficult to clear your name, as such.

I guess there may be some false allegations.

I'm not aware of any particular cases that I was involved with.

But we never would say, "I don't believe her or him",

it's not like that.

There is usually only two people that know what went on,

and it's certainly not us.

Good morning. It's Dr Yusuf from St Mary's Centre.

OK, and what sort of time would suit you?

Despite the centre being partly funded by the police,

the services of St Mary's are available for people

who don't want police involvement.

Around one in six clients is a self-referral.

I'm setting up for a self-referral examination.

That's someone who wants to come and see us

without the benefit of the police.

16755 is a self-referral case.

Perpetrator acquaintance.

Went to see GP, advised to report to the police,

but decided not to take it further at this point.

There are all sorts of obstacles to people coming here.

The fact that other people will find out, that the case may go to court,

family will know, friends will know, people at work will know.

So it's very important that they can come to us,

knowing that the police don't have to be involved.

They can still get the medical care that anybody would get,

and that way, the evidence is preserved, and they still have

that option at a later stage to ask the police to become involved.

So this is where the self-referral samples come.

Looking at our database, we've got something like 670 cases

where we've got samples here.

It's quite sad opening it up,

because it's all these stories in a freezer.

Jam-packed with stuff.

I know I had a young...

a young woman.

Can't remember how old she was. Perhaps 16, 17.

And she was saying it was her uncle.

She decided not to go any further with it,

because she didn't want to hold the responsibility

of the impact on her cousins.

And you can understand that, can't you? You know, it's their dad.

You know, and if he's the breadwinner, it is a big impact.

Take these through to the freezer room where they can be stored.

You know, people always worry about false allegations, don't they?

But why would you come here?

To me, if you were making a false allegation,

you'd be telling someone like the police.

So if you come here and you haven't told the police,

then it really makes you think

that these are likely all to be true cases, aren't they?

There's no reason that I can think of.

And so this, it's incredibly sad, this, to me.

Cos we all think we'd know what we would do, don't we?

But life's rarely that simple, is it?

It's now more than six months since Juliet rang the police

to report that she believed she'd been sexually assaulted.

In my head, I was going, "I'm not going to let this beat me,

"I'm going to go to work."

Yeah, right. I couldn't even get to the shops

without freaking out and running home.

Because you feel stained. You feel contaminated.

You feel like everything you touch is going to be soiled

with what has happened to you.

And all the time you're doing anything,

you're looking at it through that.

He was there. That image of what he did to me.

And it doesn't move. Wherever you look, it's there.

It doesn't go.

You close your eyes, the image is there.

You look somewhere, it doesn't go.

In three days' time, Juliet's case will go to court.

Hi, it's Juliet. I've got an appointment with Gail.

Come to the left on the top floor.

Thank you.

OK. I'm going to go in room one.

The number of rape victims who've dropped out before facing trial

means that now St Mary's have Independent Sexual Violence Advisors

to help them through the whole process.

Gail was the first one in the country.

I think she's really scared.

I think she's really scared and I think it's something that

most people go through going to court,

cos it's the fear of the unknown.

How are you doing?

I'm having a really bad anxiety day today.

Are you? OK.

'It's never going to be an easy process to have to, sort of,

'talk about something that's happened to you

'so traumatic to a court full of strangers...'

We'll go in the room, and then I'll go and make you a drink.

Let you calm down.

'..because it's not something that people talk about

'in day-to-day life.'

That's difficult in itself, without knowing that someone's going to say,

"Well, actually, it didn't happen like that, did it?"

I'm scared about being criticised for going out on my own like I did.

It isn't about, you know, you going out by yourself.

You know, there's lots of women go out by themselves.

Yes.

All I can say to you is that the defence barrister is there

to put to you what his client is saying has happened,

which we know is going to be totally different to what you're saying.

The thing you have to focus on more than anything

is this case is going to trial.

Lots of these cases don't get to trial

because they haven't got enough evidence.

Yeah, at least I've got that.

Right? We go to court and if he pleads guilty it's a bonus.

If he doesn't, you are prepared to go into court and give evidence.

And the only thing I can say to you is all you can do

is say what you remember.

Yeah.

I just cannot comprehend a not guilty verdict, and I...

I don't know how I'll deal with that.

See you on Monday.

See you Monday. If you hear anything...

I'll ring you, I promise.

..text me or ring me or whatever.

Probably the first three or four times I went to court,

it was not guilty, and then I start to think, "Is it me?"

No, I know it's not me, it's the system.

You know, 12 people who have their own myths and stereotypes

about any sort of crime is always going to be difficult.

It isn't an easy process, and I admire anybody,

I have to say, who would go down that process.

I really do.

Mustafa Yusuf goes on trial in Manchester.

Juliet's DVD is shown on the second day,

and she answers questions from behind a screen.

It was probably the most challenging thing I've ever done in my life,

the most scary.

But not, by far, as frightening as what I thought it was going to be.

That was on Tuesday, it's now Thursday.

Now it's a waiting game.

I have no part to play. The control's taken away from you, again.

In rape, the control was taken away from you.

I can only hope that the members of the jury, will realise that...

..you know, I didn't do anything wrong.

I didn't deserve what happened to me.

And now all I can do is wait.

At St Mary's, the cases never stop coming through the door.

16588, she's 37.

He?

He's 37.

Family are not aware of sexual assault.

Please use discretion when ringing home, cos this is a home number.

You know, if we take male rape,

you've got to think about how difficult it might be

for somebody to disclose that.

Regardless of their sexuality,

their sexuality will be called into question.

And that doesn't feel fair, because we're calling into question

the sexuality of the victim and not the perpetrator.

A male approached him, asked him where to get cigarettes from,

he followed him off the main road.

Punched in the face. Grabbed in a headlock. Anal penetration.

For a male, is it the ultimate violation, as it is for a female.

But males being males, there's bravado attached to it,

but also the embarrassment.

Remembers going to have a wee down an alleyway,

and it was here that he was grabbed by the back of the neck

and something was inserted into his bottom.

Personally, if I was a victim of a rape,

I'm still not sure that I'd be able to come forward.

15-year-old boy. He has specific learning difficulties.

We do see a lot of the vulnerable in society here, don't we?

Really, when you look at it.

She's 14. In park with friends. Left friends to meet boy on benches.

No previous sexual experience.

Teenagers, especially the ones that are in care and have nobody.

She lives in a children's home.

She's known to social services.

And then they end up here and there's nobody even to go home to.

I know. That...

And that is kind of our worst-case scenario here.

You don't think in England today that we'd live with that, would you?

No.

I mean, they're unrelated episodes,

but it's still a concern that she's 14

and she's attended here three times.

I think some cases do touch you, for whatever reason, more than others.

15-year-old was picked up by three males in a car.

Gang rape - that's really hard.

To think that nobody could sort of stand back and say,

"What are we doing? What's going on?"

Sometimes you think you're always upset,

but I can actually count of the times I've really cried.

I remember the cases and I remember the names.

And I'm not saying how the others aren't the same,

I just think there's a little bit of a build-up,

and then a certain person triggers...

Would you like to pop onto that clever scale there?

I don't think I'd ever cried at an examination,

but I did just after one recently.

And I was surprised at myself. But, you know, we're all human beings.

We're all human beings.

And whether you're a doctor or whoever, you know,

something in life will touch you, won't it?

-Well done.

-You're doing really well.

Well done.

The mask goes on.

I was thinking before, you know,

what kind of my person am I going to be at the end of today?

If it's a not guilty verdict...

..does that mean it didn't happen?

Generally, it's clear that the jury perhaps just haven't been sure

to the necessary standard of proof,

and it's not that the jury haven't believed the victim...

..it's that they haven't been sure, beyond reasonable doubt,

that the defendant is guilty.

And this perception that somehow all these acquittals must mean

they've been false allegations of rape just isn't right.

That isn't what it means at all.

Hi, Mum, it's me.

Erm, nothing as yet. We're just walking down to the court now.

The judge has done his summing up,

but he hasn't sent them out yet to deliberate.

I don't know what to expect.

It only takes a couple of people to have doubts...

..and that could be enough to throw it, so...

I suppose, fingers crossed.

The longest wait.

I want him to be found guilty for Juliet.

But, erm...

..you can never tell.

There's always going to be a possibility

that he's found not guilty.

Oh, for fuck's sake.

With Juliet not wanting to see the defendant or his family,

Gail has gone in to hear the verdict.

This is mental.

-Guilty.

-Really? I thought you were going to say not.

Unanimous.

When you were saying, "Walk, walk," I was like, "Oh, my God!"

-It's because his family were there, that's all.

-Was that them?

Yeah, that's why I asked you to walk out the way

cos I didn't want them to see you.

I feel sick.

Hi, Mummy. It's me.

Guilty. Unanimous.

Yeah. We did it. We did it.

Mustafa Yussuf has been found guilty of rape.

His sentence is yet to be determined.

You'd like to think it'll go into double figures, but...

-..you don't know.

-I hope it does go to double figures.

Bastard.

You guys have been amazing, though. You've all been amazing.

It's not the type of work that you can go home and say,

"Oh, hello, how's your day been?"

"Well, I've seen five clients, all of which were suicidal,

"high risk, I've had to contact the GP.

"Really worried about them."

Or, "I've seen a homeless person that's been raped on a street

"in Manchester whilst there were five people

"on-looking that did nothing."

You know, you could just...

It's not... You can't take this work home.

I know that you are extremely unlikely to be assaulted

by a stranger walking home in the dark.

I know that your chance of being assaulted by somebody you know

is much, much higher.

So, in some ways, I feel safer, and in other ways,

I know that there is so much going on that we don't know about,

cos we know here we only tip the iceberg

of people who are experiencing sexual violence.

You learn to live with it, but you can't let it be you.

And that's what I've really learnt. My identity isn't, "I got raped".

It's not.

I am Juliet, but I'm forever altered.

One event, and your life isn't ordinary any more.

I don't know, maybe you become extraordinary cos you survived it.

That would be a good way to put it.

And maybe that's how I'm managing to cope now.

That's the only way I can put it, really.

SATNAV: 'Turn right, then turn right.'

Ten months after the rape, Mustafa Yussuf was sentenced

to seven years and nine months' imprisonment.

He'll spend the rest of his life on the sex offenders' register.

SATNAV: 'Turn left.'

The shoes Juliet was wearing on New Year's Eve

were taken during the investigation.

Now she can get them back.

What was weird was the reaction I got...

..from the police, when I said, "Well, I want them back."

And I said, "Well, they're my beautiful, lovely, expensive shoes,

"and my shoes didn't rape me. I want them back."

One shoe in each bag?

One shoe in each bag. That's the way they get stored.

Is it? Oh, OK.

Hee-hee! Got me shoes!

It is a really weird feeling. Really weird.

Fact.

'What we're trying to do is prevent long-term problems developing.'

Oh, yeah.

Now I'm happy. Now I'm a happy girl.

Who'd have thought?!

And that's something that's really positive about working here,

is the human being's ability to recover from something so negative.

PHONE RINGS

St Mary's Centre, Jo speaking.

Oh, right, OK.

Months ago or years ago?

Could you tell me who the perpetrator was?

OK.

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