TRXnMe said:
Where it's a sex offence charge there is no such thing as innocent until proven guilty. Once charged the moral majority will assume the worst, this is especially true where child sex offences are concerned, it's one of the reasons the Police are usually careful about this sort of thing, please note usually.
Unfortunately, the public perceive sexual offence charges as basic proof that a person is guilty - which is a damned shame if you are falsely accused of a sexual offence.
One of the first court cases I was present at as a police officer (helping out the courts branch as they were short staffed) was a rape trial - or more correctly, an 'attempting to pervert the course of justice' trial - where the original accuser was now on trial - she had shouted rape, had given evidence against the man in question, when all he had in fact done was decide she was a bit of a nutter and didn't want to speak to her any more. She shouted rape, the case was investigated, he was charged, his friends disowned him, his family wouldn't speak to him, he lost his job - and all
before the rape case came to trial.
When it did come to trial, the case fell apart so badly, she ended up being charged there and then, and it was her trial that I was working at.
I know she was found guilty, which was probably cold comfort to the guy, although what her sentence was I don't know as sentencing was delayed for background reports, so it was dealt with long after my wee stint with the courts branch was done.
