Protesting

When the article "The Day I was Raped" was published in 2008 I thought that the harassment and stalking I had received because of the rape would stop, instead it continued.
Before the publication of the article my house had been repeatedly broken into, these break-in's continued even after the article's publication.

My friend recently gave me a copy of an article from the Weekend Australian, June 4-5 2011, entitled "War of Words". This article tells of other woman's experiences after writing about being raped or speaking against sexual abuse. The women in the article speak of abuse that is directed at them on internet forums or facebook sites after they have spoken out.

It seems that speaking out against abuse incurs even more abuse. This then halts dialogue on the issue as people might stop telling their stories for fear that they too could be abused in a similar way but "it is essential to expose the level of abuse and misogyny that has flourished on the largely unregulated new media". (1)

Over the last 3 years since the publication of the article "The Day I was Raped" I have repeatedly spoken out to stop the stalking of me and my family and also to increase peoples awareness of the horrible crimes that sexual assault and abuse are.

On the 30th and 31st of May 2011 I stood on Commonwealth Avenue near Parliament House protesting against the stalking of me and my son. I read out loud Eve Ensler's 'Vagina Monologues' while I stood there.
Twice I had 'slut' yelled out at me and once 'whore' from people in passing traffic.


One young woman approached me and asked why I was there. I told her that I had been raped and that I was protesting against the stalking of me and my family since the rape. She asked how she could help me. I could not answer.

Then she told me that she too had been sexually abused and that she feared for her daughter's safety but did not think there was anything that could be done.
I thought about her statement and wondered; don't men have daughters also and are they not also concerned for their daughter's futures?

I thought there must be something else that I could do. So I put together a card with information on it which I hope will be helpful to people if they or someone they know experiences rape or sexual abuse.


(1) Christine Jackman 'War of Words' The Weekend Australian June 4-5 2011

Being Stalked

Almost everyone has heard of the crime of stalking.
It is a crime associated with following a person around from home to work and anywhere else the person goes to make them feel that they are being watched.
It can also involve stealing a person's private information in an attempt to harass them.
Stalking is a crime of psychological abuse where the person is made to feel that they are watched all the time.
Often there is little knowledge of how the crime is perpetrated so the person is denied even the right to interact freely with their family.
There is also usually an associated threat that some harm will imminently occur to the person.

Under the Crimes Act 1900 the crime of stalking is defined as containing many other elements of abuse. http://www.legislation.act.gov.au/a/1900-40/current/pdf/1900-40.pdf


The Crimes Act assumes that stalking is committed by one person known to the victim but I have been stalked for nearly 9 years by people I don't even know.

In a survey from the United States it was estimated that about 3.4 million people over the age of 18 were stalked. The report identified 7 types of behaviours as related to stalking;

making unwanted phone calls
sending unwanted emails or letters
following or spying on the victim
showing up at places where the victim is going
waiting for the victim
leaving unwanted items for the victim to find
posting rumours about the victim on the internet or in a public place

the whole of the US Department of Justice report is available

During the almost 9 years that I have been stalked I have been subjected to 6 of the above 7 behaviours, I am yet to receive unwanted letters or emails.

Just as I did not know the guy who raped me neither do I know the people who are involved in stalking me.
The way I understand it, is that it is a network of people and that they will text each other if I leave a place so that someone else can then follow me.

The only other crime that I can associate it with is the gang rapes of women in Sydney. During these rapes a woman would be abducted by one person and then text messages sent to a network of other people who would converge in one place to rape her.See post "What's in a name?" 2009
Also possibly the rape of the school girl in Tuggeranong in the ACT. After this girl was raped there were other people invoved in harassing her and her family.See post "Responding" 2009

As I am being stalked then so is my family.

I cannot take my son to school nor bring him home without someone either being at the school or on the way there to indicate we are being followed.
When we go swimming, or to the beach or even to a park nearby there will be someone there to make sure I am aware that we are being followed and watched.
My son has been stalked all of his life because I was raped.

to Prosecute or Not to Prosecute

I had no choice or say in whether I was raped. He jumped out, knife in hand, beat me and raped me.
I have had no say in the subsequent abuse. No one has ever asked me about it.
I have had no say in the house break-ins.
I have had no say in the stalking.

When the detective asked me whether I wished to go ahead with prosecuting the 'person of interest' it is the only time when I have been given an opportunity to have a say in what might occur.

The 'person of interest' had made the decision to break into people's houses and to rape women. These were his choices and he is now in jail because of them. His decisions have caused injury to others and to himself.

The detective told me that because of the evidence against the 'person of interest' it was most likely that he would be found guilty.My decision to agree to prosecute him would therefore keep him in jail for even longer.

In trying to make a decision I was reminded of a story I had heard about Maya Angelou the American poet, author and activist. It is in her book "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" and I got this information from wikipedia.

When she was 8 years old Maya was raped by her mother's boyfriend. She told her brother about the rape and he told the rest of the family. The man was found guilty and jailed for one day. Four days later he was found kicked to death.
After this Maya did not speak for 5 years because she thought that "my voice killed him; I killed that man because I told his name."

To agree to prosecute the 'person of interest' would mean that that one word from me, 'yes', would change what would happen to this man's future.

I spoke to my friend's about the need to make a decision. Some of them had also suffered sexual abuse themselves and some had not. The most common reply was that agreeing to prosecute would keep an already convicted rapist in jail and would perhaps prevent some other women and girls from being raped.
WhenI spoke to the pastors wife she spoke of vengeance belonging to God, and it does (He has his own way of dealing with these things) and He abhors the abuse of the vunerable.

I have never had a desire to have the person who raped me jailed. Despite what he has done to me.
I don't think prison is an edifying environment. It doesn't work very well as a deterrent either as we are constantly building bigger prisons, and rates of recidivism are high. Reformation does not occur there often.

I did have alot of anger after the rape but the main question I had was 'why?'. That question can not be answered by sending him to jail.

It took several weeks to decide that I would agree to go ahead with prosecuting him. That decision was made mainly because I felt a need to bring a sort of conclusion to the rape. I'm sure that I have questions that I don't even know about yet, this process may or may not answer them.

I do know that now having made this decision I will have very little say in what occurs throughout the court processes and sentencing.

Cold Case

One morning in October 2010, just as I was about to leave the house, I received a call from a detective in Campsie (a suburb of Sydney). He told me that a sample of blood found at the scene of my rape in 1999 had matched a DNA sample from a person who was in jail.
After more than 11 years since the rape to hear that someone had been found who might be responsible for it was something that I had definitly not expected.
The information seemed implausible to me and it took some time to consider that I might now find out who the rapist was.
The detective stated that the 'person of interest' whose DNA had matched the blood sample was currently in jail for having raped another woman one year before he raped me.
He had originally been arrested for property crimes (breaking into houses and theft) and on an initial cold case test his DNA had matched with the 1998 rape.


The use of DNA analysis for assisting in crime detection began with the ability to 'type' the DNA in 1984. In 1986 the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) process allowed even small samples of DNA to be analysized.
This information comes from a fascinating book by Norah Rudin and Keith Inman called "An Introduction to Forensic DNA Analysis" 2nd edition. It has some great information about DNA analysis and how it all works and is speckled through with case examples.

In my case both the blood sample from the crime scene and samples from the sexual assault kit examination which I underwent, would have gone into a database of crimes and these would be matched against a database of DNA taken from individuals, generally prisoners. In Australia we have the National Criminal Identification DNA Database where the samples are stored. (1)

DNA is contained in the nucleus of cells and can be found in almost all body fluids and organs. It does deteriorate and more rapidly when in certain conditions but it is not possible for one persons DNA to deteriorate so much that it becomes another persons DNA, so as long as the sample taken is still viable it should be an accurate match. (2)

The Campsie detective asked me if I wished to go ahead with prosecuting the person who had been identified.


(1) "Wiley Encyclopedia of Forensic Science" 2009 editors in chief Allen Jamieson and Andre Moenssens John Wiley and Sons Chichester ENG

(2) "An Introduction to Forensic DNA Analysis" 2002 2nd ed. Norah Rudin & Keith Inman
CRC Press