Background
Y. fought for years to bring her alleged abuser to justice, only for him to be given an opportunity to humiliate her in a court of law.
At the age of 14, Y. told her mother that she had been repeatedly sexually assaulted by a family friend. Y.’s mother went to the police. But she found it very difficult to get answers from them about the progress of the investigation into her daughter’s claims.
It took almost seven years for Y.’s case to come to trial, by which time she was a young woman who had been forced to relive her trauma over and over again.
At one court hearing, Y.’s alleged abuser directly asked her over a hundred questions, some of which were offensive. The cross-examination lasted for four hours.
The man was cleared of all charges.