As the trial of Bruce Lehrmann, accused of raping Brittany Higgins at Parliament House in 2019, remains on hold, the social media left are in full flight. Higgins has been “unavailable to take the stand”, mid-testimony, all week. That hasn’t stopped her supporters screeching day and night.
How dare anyone question her, they demand, oblivious to the fact that to do otherwise is pre-judging the verdict and trampling all over the defendant’s presumption of innocence. “Like it’s her credibility on trial,” whined one. Which it is – by necessity. It’s the fundamental precept of our legal system (or it’s supposed to be), not to mention basic logic, that the burden of proof is on the accuser. The whole case rests on her word against his. If she is judged not to be credible, the case fails.
But, why wouldn’t anyone ‘believe’ women? After all, we’re told by feminists that women never lie about rape.
Except when they do.
A woman has appeared at Preston Crown Court accused of fabricating evidence to frame men for rape, including inflicting severe hammer blows on herself.
Prosecutors claim 21-year-old Eleanor Williams, from Barrow-in-Furness, is a “serial liar” who used false text messages and Snapchat conversations to bolster claims she had been trafficked and raped by multiple men.
Granted, false accusations of rape are relatively rare – as they are of most crimes. But what scant evidence there is – it not being politically fashionable, after all, to inquire into such matters – suggests that of all crimes, accusations of rape are the commonest. Studies suggest false accusation rates may range anywhere between eight per cent (much higher than most other crimes) and an alarming 50 per cent.
(It should be noted that the lower figure refers to provably false accusations. A far higher number – nearly half – “did not proceed”: that is, there is insufficient evidence supporting the accusation to even bother.)
As the Williams case shows, some women will go to great lengths to fabricate an accusation.
Crown Prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford KC told the jury although Ms Williams was on one occasion discovered with multiple wounds on her body after going missing, the prosecution claims “the injuries had been self-inflicted with a hammer” […]
She is accused of faking evidence such as text messages on mobile phones and social media in which her alleged abusers and traffickers appeared to discuss or admit their supposed crimes, as well as messages in which she and other supposed victims appeared to discuss being trafficked or sexually exploited […]
It was suggested she set up Snapchat accounts herself in the names of a man she claimed had attacked her so she could send confessional or damning messages to herself.
Sky News
False accusations are not harmless or inconsequential. In Williams’ case, men were arrested and one kept in custody for three months. In a particularly notorious Australian case, a former police worker was jailed before his innocence was proven. For many falsely accused men, their reputations are forever blackened, no matter the court outcome.
But false rape claims are not just damaging to the accused. Every time a false rape claim is exposed, it damages the chances for justice for those who really are raped.