'Ethnics’ needed in rape cases

Press, 25 March 1980, Page 5

' Ethnics’ needed in rape cases

PA Wellington A woman complainant in a rape case needs a lawyer to stand up for her rights, said Mrs Louise Morley, the organiser of a rape seminar, held in Wellington.

This was one of the conclusions of the seminar attended by about 20 women and organised by Wellington’s Rape Crisis Centre. Mrs Morley said courtroom ethics needed to be more strictly applied. Some defence lawyers stooped to such tactics making belittling remarks about a woman complainant to try to confuse her. Some defence lawyers said things that were not allowable and were struck from the court record. But the remarks

created impressions in the minds of the jury. Statements about t, complainant’s sexual background. which were not admissible in court, came into this category. Mrs Morley said the conference was also concerned that a woman should be informed of what would be required of her in a Court case and of what a police doctor did in an examination. Doctors who were doing the examination frequently might forget that the patient did not know what was happening. A woman being examined by a doctor after a rape coula feel very cheap and dirty, Mrs Morlev said.

Explaining the procedures put the situation back on the woman’s control again. This was very important after a woman had been raped.