Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 21, 1973, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press omens news july 1973 rape Tough crime to prove by Pamela Bottomley rape is a crime Rife Wii the victim asks should i re port it or will the trial b worse than the attack will h try again will they catch him what if i become preg Nant the police where did i happen what time did it Hap pen what color Are his eyes his his car did to know him the Law was it rape or in decent assault did Penetra Tion occur was the victim Chaste was the attacker Given any suggestion of consent police officials and lawyer agree that rape is one of the most difficult crimes to a conviction is almost impossible unless there is corroboration of evidence facts to fur ther strengthen according to Allan Assis Tant superintendent of Detec Tives of the Winnipeg inner City police a rape is reported detectives take an extremely detailed statement from the victim description of the at the the color of the the the car anything to prove that she in if there is corroboration there is a Good Chance of con but if there Are any doubts raised during the trial about the victims chastity or whether the act was against her rape can be a difficult thing to doubt in court about a Mea sure of consent being Given by a woman to her attacker often results in a conviction on a reduced charge of indecent As Saull the criminal code of Canada defines rape thusly a male person commits rape when he has sexual Intercourse with a female who is not his wife without her consent or with her consent if the consent is extorted by fear of bodily harm or obtained by impersonating her husband or by false or fraudulent representation As to the nature and Quality of the a husband cannot rape his wife unless he participates in the attack with another Biggs said that rape by fraudulent representation such As impersonating a physician occurs about once in five years in Twenty one rapes and eight attempted rapes were reported to police during eleven charges of rape were Laid and seven convictions although rape is not the problem Here As it is in the ports of Montreal and Van figures available for january to june 1973 show a per cent increase in rape incidences Over the same period last there is no doubt in my said that Many More rapes occur than Are most rapes he happen in the poorer districts of the but he speculated that rapes occurring in the upper and Middle class areas Arent reported because people dont want the publicity and dont want to go through the Strain of taking a rape Case to rape is one of the few crimes that is automatically tried by judge and after the incident is a preliminary hearing is held which can be Public or Pri vate at the discretion of the presiding judge to weigh the then the Case goes to the accused or those accused in the Case of a gang rape Are allowed to Challenge Welve jurors the defence and prosecution can also consent to or stand by objections Are made in an Effort to get As Many people As possible on the jury sympathy it c to the respective sides of the Crown attorney David ram Persad said the question of consent or Force made rape a difficult crime to emphasized that with out corroboration of evidence a conviction is hard to rape he result in lot of stress and Strain on he she is forced by a to live through the incident or More she s subject to questioning by the defence about her private life and moral then she s Biggs said the Automo Ile is the scene of most local despite growing concern n other Canadian cities about underground gang which Are be Oming More common in cities Uch As account for 10 or cent of Winnipeg police urge women not to Hitchhike alone unless they ant and opening a Oor to a person one Doest now Well or taking rides ome from parties with Strang is Are other invitations to most according to of result from a woman utting herself in a situation in hich she can be taken Adan age most cases involve women under the age of the usual Ange is from 16 to Ponce a that inexperience with men t this age adds to the prob contrary to a popular belief hat Nice girls dont get police say that these Are usually the restitute Are rarely some of the rapes reported o the police Are later disco red to be that Ley occurred with women afraid of contracting r who have contracted Ven real disease have reported in with whom they have had equal a woman afraid of becoming Regnant May try to charge a ver with rape and men have e e n accused of rape by Omen out of photos by Jim Haggerty Ardelle a purple Belt inter mediate level at Midwest karate association of is grabbed from behind by instructor Gerry an Elbow strike to the solar plexus knocks the wind out of the allowing the victim to escape or no guarantee even in self defence by Jim Haggarty theres nothing Guaran no guarantee is the Point Gerry of the Midwest karate stresses when he talks about self Marr has about 18 years experience in the martial a Black Belt in judo and a Sec Ond degree Black Belt in karate from the Japan karate Assoc he ran special self defence classes for women last and will probably continue them this the classes were designed to give the 30 women in the club a idea of How to apply karate techniques to a particular self defence sit Midwest was the first Japa nes Estyle club to offer the Spe Cial while the actual striking form and Force Are taught in the regular mixed the self defence classes showed women How and where to Marr insisted that his students have at least one month of regular to airing be fore allowing them into the self defence sometimes there is a ten Dency for women not to develop the necessary amount of because of social Condi t i o n i n g and women being taught to play a passive Marr said in an interview this the karate instructor had 15 women in the half hour ses Sions Friday nights and sever Al the he were there to play the roles of at by rotating attackers the women realized what it feels like to have Force applied on them and How much Force it will take to break away from someone who Doest want to let the class is closed to men except for those playing the at tackers with five different at tackers there can be five Dif Ferent methods of Marr the Speed of the the amount of Force that an at Tacker applies and the rotation of men in the class helps the women to learn so if something should happen to Shes not going to fall apart if the attacker Doest use the same techniques in the same order that she had been taught to defend theres never any Guaran you never know if a per son can apply techniques until its a door die a person might not have the Confidence to use the tech or might simply be caught by suprise and Over whelmed before she can do he in particularly in this style self defence eventually becomes second the classes Are Only designed to help it along in Marr a knife attack is effectively blocked and the woman now has the she is Able to attack her crabbing the hair for leverage and pulling Down while using a foot sweep drives the at Tacker to the uses Retreat into silence Washington special tons in the Early hours of one morning last a male intruder broke into the Washington Home of Evelyn Harte As she was that is not her actual Resi Dence or real she awoke with the intruder on top of and saw a knife at her she knew in stantly the full horror of the mans presence he wanted to in fear for her she after the the rapist she called a special emergency line that reaches the police so began a series of events that led to a profound change in Evelyn Hartes she was a victim of americas most frequently committed violent according to the rape offences in 1971 increased 64 per cent Over 1966 1971 Rose 11 per cent Over the total in 1971 was it is Only one in five rapes is it is possible that nearly a Hal million american women Are annual although rape is a major it is hardly no t i c e d except when an occasional trial receives Public one possible explanation for the nations indifference to this crime is that in a male dominated the rape victims by Legal definition will always be though rapists share a com Mon no two stories of rape victims Are for the one who reports the it is Likely she will have the similar experience of being at the mercy of three establishments medical and often the frustration of dealing with the males in these professions equals the Harrow of the original what makes Evelyn Harte different from most rape Vic Tims is that she has not re treated into she has become what society labels a but her reaction is really one of formal outrage it appears excessive Only be cause she refuses to adjust to the she has been on an Abc television show and on local radio in not going to go away she that just makes it easier for rapists to continue attacking and terrorizing other in the next two years a possible one million women will be id like to try to lower that within a few minutes of phoning for Evelyn Harte opened the door to two patrol shortly other police came and investigators from the sex squad and crime she was grate Ful for the Quick she while giving the details to one of another appeared at the door of her House with a sus they asked me to identify i was i was at tacked in the dark and i was not wearing my even i was so frightened my mind was the police were asking is this him at i said but the suspect began screaming at then i realized that i had better stay Clear of identifying anyone he would know where i what i looked All of this thanks to the there was no lineup of with my identity there i was the suspect was Evelyn Hartes attacker has never been this is com the Fri reports in 1971 a solution rate of Only 55 per Down three per cent from of All adults arrested for forcible rape in 70 per cent were but Only 35 per cent found Evelyn in her House that morning surrounded by the knew none of these statistics that suggested the unlikelihood of eventual jus then what does jus Tice mean for a rape victim her car Hast been nor has her purse been in rape there is Noth ing to be recovered the Vio Lence is forever the Vic Tims life is never the the goal of putting a the behind bars Means when the woman herself May endure a Lon term sen tence behind some trial of psychological in the hours after the and following the police inter Evelyn Harte sought medical the City Hospital would be she was told by the but a private Hospi Tal she chose the Pri vate Hospital rather than risk a Long wait at the City it was four in the morning and the doctor on duty was a i was probably Lucky in Ive heard from other rape victims about the attitudes of some male Evelyn Harte was anything but pleased at her Hospital she says the doctor offered her no though was verbally there were no suggestions that a session with a counsellor of some kind might be the main action was a shot of this was meant As a precaution against veneral i appreciated the but i was almost without Choice whether or not i wanted i was not tested for and was asked Only routinely if in fact i was Aller Gic to i didst Proba Bly said the going for the i Learned later that some hospitals will treat rape patients with some she also Learned that her Hospital visit Cost she knows of rape victims who have been billed As much As so she was grateful for being let off Evelyn Hartes Case has not yet come to and she doubts it Ever she was not wearing her it was dark and she could make no positive identification if the police did turn up a but what if they did find my attacker and i could that in sure of it at the what Chance would i have there were no wit Nesses to the the police found no bruises or knife Marks on what Chance would i against an average defendants attorney she is clearly a person whose life and opinions have been to the Point that she thinks it Well Worth the trouble to stand her not Only against what rapists do to women but against the casualness by which the rest of us adjust to the victims ordeal after the it is almost a year since her it has changed my she i was not in the women movement though i had sympathy with the but my experience catapulted me into being an i was always a career oriented woman which Means youre thrown into a mans world and All the Challenge that that in i Felt that the mans world was the exciting but though in still career i have a much greater sensitivity for i prefer working with when you like you find that they have As much depth and Content As men supposedly Evelyn Harte says that she Seldom thinks about her assail ant not having to face him in a court trial has helped and thus there is no fear of she has no re Gret about his not being in jail because the prison be helping him but at the same time she is concerned be cause he is probably still rap ing other although an individual rapist has been pushed from her the threat of another attack has i think of rape when in alone with a Man for in in the laundry room of my apartment Ive taken a few Sel defense courses which help give you an aggressive mindset if you Are but it took me a while to even feel comfortable hitting a phone which is a Way they train can never know for but i think if i was hassled now id be More in the months following her Evelyn Harte was Luck Ier than Many rape victims she sought and received the support of other assaulted the fact rape should be something the victim can get rape is trauma tic because there is so Little support one reason Ive been Able to overcome the psychological Impact is that i had the Comfort of other women who had been through what id been on the question of Why she talks openly about her expert Evelyn Harte takes the position that sensible activism demands i am appalled when people ask Arent you embarrassed saying you Are a rape victim its a frustrating its As though it was something i of no rape victim chooses to be but its All right to talk publicly about your if that accepted by the woman herself she Doest feel guilty about the abortion and society in general Doest throw guilt at her anymore then Why should any women feel guilty about being raped Evelyn Harte does Nob pass herself off As a crusader she knows How easily crusaders Are dismissed but she insists that the growing interest in the treatment of rape victims is not a passing Only time can verify this for for without pressing her own agonies onto but not hiding them she is making a contribution that of few have made preventive measures these guidelines for preventing rape Are summarized from a Washington rape crisis Centre at Home a Large number of attacks occur in to mens if you live in an pressure the landlord to maintain there should be lights at All entrances and locks on All doors and list Only your last name and first initial on the Mailbox and in the phone always find out who is knocking before opening your ask service men to identify themselves if you Are sceptical about leave him outside while you Call his when you Are alone and not expecting respond to a Knock at the door with a loud ill get Bill when returning Home have you key ready before you get to the be of where an attacker might hide under stairs or Between if someone is watching avoid having see where you Check for suspicious looking men before entering and leaving an stand next to the control panel if you Are press the emergency but ton and the buttons for As Many floors As determine which of your neighbors you can count on in Case of on the Street self defence training is one of the Best but there Are other measures you can walk at a looking confident and As if you know where you Are going dont Wear clothing that allows you to move easily and keep your hands dont overload yourself with packages or if shout fire rather than help or rape it elicits a better if you carry a whistle dont Wear it around your know your route Home and note the location of stores that Are open buildings with fire and police avoid dark parking lots and if you think someone is following you do not hesitate to turn around and to verify walk or Cross the or walk Down the Middle of the if you Are being head for the closest inhabited or lighted or you might try to run do it As fast As you and shout ing As you if you Are attacked and running seems Imossi you might be Able to intimidate the assailant or try acting or or saying that you have a contagious disease these tricks have worked be another option is fighting in order to gain time to run see weapons unless you Are trained in dont fling your foot or Arm at the at tackers Groin it is too difficult to be effective and a miss is Likely to anger faced with a do not attempt to weapons these should be used Only to provide an Opportunity to remember that any weapon can be taken and used against hold onto it tight lighted cigarette smash it out in the plastic Lemon filled with a caution liquid such As ammonia and aimed at the eyes it can reach As far As 15 this can gain you time to run hair Spray can be used in the same hat pin holding it scrape it across the face or Jab at the keys Stab at the face or umbrella with one hand near the Centre and the other behind make a Quick Jab at the neck or travelling Check the Back seat of a car before getting in drive with the doors windows rolled up most of the on a sit near the on be Alert dont go to hitchhiking is extremely and if you Are you will have Little Legal if you do choose to Hitchhike do not hitch or at hitch Only in heavy never in the suburbs or never accept a ride in a car with More than one Man in it make sure there is an in Side door handle on your Side that and keep one hand on have the window partly rolled Down in Case you have to Call for dont accept a ride from a Driver who changed directions to pick you ask what direction the Driver is headed before you Tell him where you Are going and know the route in Case he makes a wrong if the Driver intends to Stop for any get out police officials warn hitchhiking alone is an invitation to ;