Another newspaper article that makes grim reading “David Goodwillie rape accuser opens her heart on vile internet abuse after charges are dropped“. Wonder what it tells us about Scottish society when a *woman* who’s an alleged rape victim is the one who’s vilified? The footballer guy at the centre of this is in the middle of transfer negotiations. Pretty rotten that Rangers also pounced with a bid for him a split nano-second after the charges were officially dropped. Something stinks about that.
I just can’t even begin to imagine the despair of a woman raped and yet brave enough to come forward and press charges only for the justice system to grind to a halt. When Elish Angiolini was the first female Lord Advocate she set in motion plans to train up solicitors and courts to deal sensitively with rape cases. We still have an abysmally low prosecution rate for sexual crimes even after all the efforts to modernise (Update 2 Aug 2011, Sexual Violence and the Justice System [Village Aunties]). Here it sounds like it’s the legislative system at fault, since there didn’t seem to be enough evidence to go ahead with a trial successfully. It’s a classic “he said, she said” case. Hang our heads in shame. Can’t we at the very least get Dundee United to ban ‘supporters’ that post foul messages about her or who chant on the terraces? If that’s not bringing your club into disrepute then what is?