Falsely Accused

[ShelleyS]

A good friend of mine has recently been falsely accused of rape and it is due to go to court very soon. The girl in question has apparently made such allegations before.

The solicitor has advised my friend to try and find out as much as possible about the accuser, but he is unsure where to start as she was just a girl he knows from the local and one of his bail conditions is that he cannot go to the pub in question.

His family are in turmoil and as a friend I want to try and help out as much as possible, so have tried the obvious routes of friends reunited, the land registry and so on. These aren't turning up much, just know that her mum has a different surname and now lives with a different bloke with yet another different surname.

Can anyone give any advice on how we can find out more about this person, including how far she got with her previous allegations? Any advice that anyone can help with would be a massive help.

[snook]

You could take a look at this list of posts by people who have had similar allegations made against them here

I hope it helps. Sounds like a horrible situation.

If you want to try to find more information, use Google, and put in words or phrases like "false allegation", "rape allegation", "accused [of] rape" (I think it will ignore words like 'of' anyway, so you could just leave it out), "legal advice+rape allegation". There's a wealth of information out there - it really is worth spending some time sifting through the lists that Google will churn out.

[WaldoMcFroog]

I can only begin to imagine what a false allegation of rape would do to someone, and I do believe that anyone found to be making such allegations maliciously should be sentenced to the tarrif the defendant would have received it found guilty. I'm not unsympathetic.

However, I can't believe that a solicitor would instruct his client to go out and dig up information on someone who made an accusation of rape.

This could, if it involved talking to people who know the girl, clearly lead to allegations of intimidation, interfereing with a witness etc. The solicitor would be be the best person to carry out this research. I also find it a little strange that nothing much is known about this girl except she's got previous when it comes to making false allegations.

I'm sorry if this comes across as harsh, but I simply can't believe your friend - and you by extension - are the appropriate people to be carrying out this work.

[noxlumos]

Waldo and Snook are absolutely right, steer clear of this yourselves.If this girl is capable of lying about the rape, then she's capable of saying you've been trying to intimidate her family and friends and if she does that they will lift you, you'll have a summerary hearing and you'll be remanded, none of which you want to happen, and it will look as if he's guilty. If his solicitor has told him to do this then he's not very good so I'd go out and get a better one. You might find the best and safest way to find anything out is to hire a private investigator, it ashouldn't cost that much for basic background info, although your solicitor should really be handling all this for you, that's what you're paying him for.Good luck.

[ShelleyS]

I think what the solicitor is asking is for background information on the girl from sort of joint people who know her, sort of the type or person she is, if she has had a lot of partners, that kind of thing.

The trouble is is that everyone feels so useless as you can probably imagine, my mate is a great guy and the reason that he knows about her previous accusations is that she told him this on the night the event apparently happened!

noxlumos suggested a P.I., anyone know what they'd cost and what sort of things they's look into? I just want to help my friend and his family in whatever way I possibly can, his mum's in bits about it and they're living in fear of repercussions from anyone with that whole "no smoke without fire attitude".

Thanks to everyone for their answers so far, but all other bits of help would be hugely appreciated!

[noxlumos]

Check out yellow pages Shelley, there should be reams of them, there certainly are in ours.I've used them several times to suss out people I've been doing business with etc and they don't charge that much for just a bit of snooping, anything from about �150 upwards depending how time consuming or difficult it is.They're usually quite friendly so just call them and have a chat about the situation.

Hope this helps and good luck

[tigilou]

As a secretary in the criminal department i find this a tiny bit strange firstly i would like to say he could mean what is she like around other men in the local ie does she flirt, prick tease, is known as a bit easy..... if you see what i mean basically her reputation. Secondly if his solicitor knows she has done this before surely he must have asked the CPS/Police for the information/disclosure regarding the previous incident to use this as evidence in the court room and this is his job to find out any information about her the police will have all the information regarding the previous allegation and only the solicitor can get hold of this. Has your friend actually gone to court yet and had any statements sent to him so he knows what has been said if he hasnt this will happen when he goes and his solicitor will serve him with all the paperwork but all disclosure takes a very long time to be served. i hope this has helped you.

[joko]

any 'information' regarding her character that you get from talking to locals would be classed a gossip and anecdotal and hearsay. people make assumptions, lie, misconstrue, things mutate - it would be a waste of time without actual evidence.