My sister was on a night out with a friend and at some point they both stopped having any memory of that night. Her friend was found by the “street angels” Samaritans and they helped call someone to pick her up. But my sister woke up in a hotel next to a stranger after being raped. Disorientated she managed to leave the hotel via the fire exit and got home safe. She reported this to the police and completed a rape kit, blood test and interview etc. She called us and my mum travelled over 200 miles to be with her as support. One of the police officers made a point of making a comment about my sister drinking too much in front of my mother. A couple of months later, my sister suffered pelvic inflammatory disease, most likely a result from this assault.
My sister didn’t hear anything for a long time and she had to keep chasing them. Eventually several months later they asked “is she sure she wants to go through with the investigation?”, my sister was shocked as she assumed it was ongoing and said yes. It turned out that they had not processed any of the samples taken. When they finally did they came up with a DNA match in the system. The person was arrested and interviewed. The police officer who then spoke to my sister told her that “he was very upset” and “seemed genuine”. They also interviewed a friend of his who told them that my sister “seemed fine” and that he was there. CCTV footage showed her being taken into the hotel alone by the rapist. A police officer commented that my sister looked unsteady but that “she was wearing heels”. The identity of the rapist was protected from my sister and nothing else was taken forward. They didn’t even test her blood for drugs as they said “even if we find something how can we be sure that you didn’t take it”. It seemed they weren’t willing to look for any evidence and at times wanted to ignore it completely.
Overall it felt like this rapist was protected and believed over my sister. The police were reluctant to investigate or do anything. My sister does not know the rapist and has no reason to lie. My sister has finally gotten in a good place now and I’m not sure she’d be want to go through things again to get justice having been let down so badly. She has been suffering with chronic pelvic pain after the assault, probably the result of PID or psychological reasons. I feel so angry knowing that my sister has been so badly let down by the police and that despite finding him, there is a rapist out there, who was in the police system for one reason or another, who could be doing it again. I wish I could pursue this for her or maybe highlight this to the press as I know this isn’t an isolated incident with police not following up or helping rape convictions.
Constabulary: Greater Manchester Police
Timespan: 2021
Did you report it to the police?: Yes
Do you want to revisit this with the police?: Prefer not to say
Your ethnicity: Mixed/Multiple Ethnicity
Have you experienced suicidality due to this?: No
Are you disabled as defined under the Equality Act 2010?: No
