Victim #3

Her voice cracked with sorrow as she described the night. “It was raining,” she said to the officer looking down on his log book, “And the darkness was assisted by the cold temperature and the nagging patches of fog,” she continued. The officer was listening attentively, nodding at her pauses while taking notes standing over his desk. She admired his excellent penmanship through her pain and grieve while fighting to say in details the horrors of that night. She was encouraged to continue by the female officer who rubbed her shoulder continuously in support.

“I could not see as far but I heard talking ahead of me. I was able to count more than six voices, all men heading in the same direction slowly,” she added then paused as the officer’s pen ink ran dry and he switched to another. The female officer was still holding her and rubbing her shoulder gently.

In walked a man with his hair well groomed and a polite voice, “good morning”, he greeted them as he walked by. The victim recognised his smooth voice and quietly pointed him out to the female while the male looked away for a second. “How was the match last night, Macky?” the officer at the desk shouted before apologizing to the victim for the loudness. “Sorry about that, I was just catching up. Where were we?” he asked the women whose eyes were swollen from constantly crying.

The female officer left after being told that the victim was raped by a few others including the male that had just entered the building. The victim was not able to continue and asked to sit a while. Minutes later she was awaken by an officer.

“Lady, yuh can’t sleep here,” he said in a husky pretentious voice.

She woke up and realized that she had slept over two hours. She went back to the front desk to continue her report but there was no previous notes. “Yuh sure a here so yuh report it?” the new officer at the desk asked her in a harsh tone.

She was confused and weak in her reply.

“I might have been dreaming but I’m pretty sure i was talking with another officer at this desk.”

“What was it about, lady?”

“Rape,” she said in an undertone.

“Speak up, lady.”

“I was raped and i was reporting it to the officer that was here before you.”

“I don’t see any report logged, the last thing in this book was from 0100hrs, over eight hours ago so maybe you were dreaming.”

“May I start over, sir?”

“Might as well,” he said while still flipping the pages to see the earlier report. He then took the book to another office where he spent a few minutes. He returned laughing.

The officer told her to report to another officer. She walked away slowly still weak from her ordeal. When she reached inside she was greeted by the superintendent, Macky. Her knees failed sending her to the ground and her face crashing against the chair. Being conscious she was able to bring herself to feet and moved to the chair after which she told him she was confused and left the station.

The superintendent, who is married to the female officer who was consoling the victim, was already informed of her claims. He started calling the closet stations and warning them about a mad woman reporting rape and gave a description of the victim.

The superintendent’s calls made it hard for the victim, her reports were not taken seriously. The victim went into a state of depression after trying to get her voice heard but repeatedly getting shut down as being a mad woman. She was referred to the rape unit a few days later by a friend but by then it seems everyone knew of her as being false except one lady at the Victim Support Unit. As usual, her information was kept confidential until the officers were called in for questioning. The session was done outside her presence because of the officer’s rank and power.

There was no case because the officers all had strong alibis with electronic print as to their whereabouts. After the case against the officers were dismissed she was asked to make another report and invited on several occasions to participate in identification parades. This was done in pretence due to the eyes now focused on the case. It went on for seven months. She had to leave work to view a parade or be absent from work to sit in on a parade until she was asked to resign. Traumatised and unable to fight anymore she wrote her final letter which served as a resignation and suicide note.

“I’m tired of fighting. Tired of fighting losing battles with people who hold so much power they think they can just lie and be free. I’m tired of being defeated over and over because my fight is pure and from the heart. I’m tired of the wickedness and how it seems to be the right thing because it keeps winning. I’m tired of politics in the workplace and everywhere else. I’m tired of sleepless nights and hungry belly while lazy people strive and survive on the hard work I put in. I’m tired of the blindness seen near and far as to how women are treated in this world. I’m sick of the sicknesses going around in the form of healthy choices. I’m mad at the government for allowing people like my rapists to live while the victims die slowly inside. I’m mad at you for not speaking out at the brutal mess happening around us. Not all of us are brave enough to fight so speak. Speak to the wilderness and hope the trees will hear. Speak to the young and hope they will grow with your wisdom,” the victim’s note read.

The victim didn’t commit suicide as she planned, instead, she became a victim in an accident which took her life. The officers thought they were free of the consequences of their actions until the letter was being read by the superintendent’s wife who overheard her husband confirming the rape to one of their colleagues.

She took over the victim’s fight but was not able to take it all they way to court. The husband later shot her in the head for the betrayal and later himself but not before he penned his suicide note.

“I did it. I know I let you all down but I did it. It was a horrible thing to do but we did it. Officers Green, Slue, Dryer, Parkin and myself. We did it. We did it and we won. If it wasn’t for my wife’s betrayal we would be home free but she did it. She betrayed her husband and so she had to die. The court freed us but for her that was not enough. Now the world can watch her child grow up grieving. Better that way then my hard earned money looking after another man’s child.

We thought she was a prostitute. She was walking late at night on a road know to be traversed by ladies of the night and wearing something sexy like a lady doing ‘business’. It all happened in a minute. By the time we saw her, Green was already all over her while she giggled so we thought it was just for fun so we all part took in the festivities after winning a match. It was good while it last,” his note read.

The other officers were arrested and charged based on the suicide note but were exonerated after the note was inspected said to be forged. The suicide later was investigated as a double murder.