Pubdate: Thu, 22 Jun 2000
Source: Daily Record and Sunday Mail (UK)
Copyright: 2000 Daily Record and Sunday Mail Ltd.
Contact:  Anderston Quay, Glasgow, Scotland, G3 8DA
Website: http://www.record-mail.co.uk/rm/

SEX CRIME OF THE 21ST CENTURY

Police Chief Warns Men And Women Are At Risk From Date Rape Scourge

THE policeman who led the study into date rape last night branded it the 
sex offence of the new millennium.

Peter Sturman's report revealed how rapists arm themselves with pounds 1 
pills which they know will leave their victims defenceless.

And he warned that both men and women anywhere could be victims.

Sturman's team interviewed 123 male and female victims, piecing together 
the scattered fragments of memory of their ordeals. They found that almost 
half had fallen victim to drugs slipped into their drinks in pubs.

In some cases, however, drugs had been hidden in milk and drinking chocolate.

Other victims had fallen prey to attackers at private parties and even on 
aeroplanes.

The Sturman report also found that 70 per cent of victims knew their attacker.

According to the findings, one in five victims are students, although the 
largest group of victims are women in their 30s, many recently divorced or 
separated and looking for a new relationship.

Detective Inspector Sturman's report calls for an overhaul of the 
44-year-old law used to prosecute offenders - the Sexual Offences Act of 
1956 - and urges "a new look at sexual assaults through 21st- century eyes".

The report also urges police to take all complaints seriously, no matter 
how bizarre the allegations seem.

The report warns: "The allegation that appears to be bizarre may be 
evidence of an attack by a very experienced, serial offender."

The report was welcomed by the Roofies Foundation - the only dedicated 
support group for victims of drug-induced date rapes.

Set up two years ago by a solicitor who had fallen victim to a date rapist, 
it takes its name from the street name for the drugs used to overpower victims.

Chief executive David Rhodes said he hoped the Sturman report would make 
the Government, police and courts take action.

He said: "Drug-induced rape has no age or gender barrier. Everyone is at risk."

In the last two years, 3000 people have been victims of drug-induced rape 
in the UK - 237 of them in Scotland. The vast majority are women.

But Mr Rhodes believes the figures are a gross underestimate. For every one 
rape reported it is thought five are never highlighted.

The Government has already tried to stem the availability of the drugs 
commonly used by rapists - in particular, rohypnol.

But Mr Rhodes said as many as 20 drugs had been identified in victims, a 
figure supported by the Sturman report.

Mr Rhodes said: "It could be anything in your medicine chest. You can do it 
with the sleeping tonic Nytol - it's that widespread.

"There is evidence these drugs are being secretly developed by drug barons. 
We have heard of one that was an aerosol spray that can be absorbed into 
the skin."

The drugs are usually used to spike drinks and, within 20 minutes, leave 
the victim in a trance-like state which appears as drunkenness. The victim 
looses their inhibitions, leaving them open to abuse, sexual assault and rape.

Mr Rhodes said there was also a growing trend in victims being used to 
produce pornographic photographs and videos which are then distributed 
through the Internet.

The Roofies Foundation is now calling for Government research into the law 
which it claims cannot cope with the crime.

Mr Rhodes said: "We want the Crown and police to treat a drug rape victim 
as they would a murder victim - a silent witness.

"Then the question of a victim's reliability would never come about and we 
could get some convictions."

The Foundation also wants drug companies to finance research into the 
medical and psychological affects of drug rape attacks.

The Sturnam report made 71 recommendations, among which were calls for life 
sentences for offenders and consecutive sentences for multiple offenders.

It also urged that 24-hour sexual assault treatment centres be set up where 
victims can receive medical attention, counselling and make a police 
statement under one roof.

Mr Rhodes has welcomed the Sturman report, but demanded urgent action in 
response to its findings.

He said: "We are delighted that, at long last, someone in power has 
acknowledged this crime exists. Now we need action.

"We have some very damaged people out there and we need to know how to help 
them."

THE VICTIM

NINA Richards, 33, was raped last November after her drink was spiked with 
what police suspect was the date rape drug Rohypnol.

Her attacker has never been charged due to lack of evidence.

Nina, who runs her runs her own PR agency in London, recalled: "I was 
having a drink with a client after a business launch in the West End. I'd 
had a couple of glasses of champagne at the launch and a vodka on ice. It 
was just after midnight.

"A couple of guys walked over and started chatting. I noticed one of them 
was wearing really gawky square-framed glasses .

"I had just started my second vodka when I went to the loo. I remember 
looking at myself and feeling a bit woozy.

"I returned to the bar. It was 1am. The only knowledge I have of the seven 
hours that followed is footage from security cameras shown to me by police.

"My next memory is of coming to in a hotel bedroom just after 8am. I was 
lying face down and naked. I couldn't move.

"Somehow, I managed to heave my body over so that I was on my back, the 
whole time my mind racing as I tried to work out what was going on.

"I caught sight of a man, naked, across the room. He was fiddling with 
something - with hindsight, I think it was a video camera. It was clear he 
had already had sex with me, yet I had no idea who he was.

"The guy called over to me asking me if I had a hangover. I asked if I 
should have and he said that he had saved me. I didn't ask how or why.

"I was incapable because I felt so off my head again. At that point, he 
calmly walked back over and raped me again.

"I had no sense of who he was or what he looked like. I just knew he was 
male and on top of me. There was no sensation - no fear or panic.

"Afterwards, he got dressed and asked me for my phone number. It took me 
five attempts to write down the correct one and my hands shook as I wrote.

"Finally, he put on his glasses - it was only then I recognised him as the 
man with the odd specs from the bar. After he'd gone, I still felt very 
groggy, but got myself dressed and got a taxi home.

"That afternoon, I spoke to an old boyfriend I was due to meet for dinner. 
I explained how weird I was feeling and told him about the incident in the 
hotel room. He said he was almost certain I had been drugged and that I had 
to call the police.

"But what would I tell them? That I had woken up feeling weird in some 
strange man's hotel room and then let him have sex with me because I felt 
too out of it to protest?

"But in the days that followed, I was violently ill as the drug worked its 
way out of my system. A friend persuaded me to go to the doctor and once 
there, I broke down and explained what had happened.

"He ran blood and urine tests, but it was just too long after the event - 
there was no trace of the drug left. On examining me, though, he said I had 
bruising consistent with a violent assault.

"That evening, I returned home to find a message from the man himself. He 
said 'Hi Nina, it's your attacker. Give me a call.' He also left his mobile 
number.

"I contacted a group called The Roofie Foundation - the street name for 
Rohypnol - which helps victims of drug rape. They told me to call the 
police immediately, which I did.

"Three CID officers arrived and began to interview me. They took me to the 
station to be examined and take a statement.

"They later showed me video footage taken from the hotel the night I was 
attacked. However weird the experience had been up to then, it suddenly got 
a whole lot scarier.

"I have since learned that there a film has been put on the Internet of me 
from night I was raped.

"The police tracked him down and interviewed him about the matter. He 
admitted sleeping with me and claimed I was a willing participant.

"I was devastated. But while the police have believed my version of events 
all along, they are totally hampered by the lack of forensic evidence.

"The case has been left open and now all I can hope is that one day he is 
caught and brought to justice."

THE DRUGS:

ROHYPNOL: A tranquilliser similar to Valium, but 10 times more powerful. It 
was designed for people with serious sleep disorders. but began being used 
in sex attacks three years ago.

The drug is odourless and tasteless when slipped into drinks and is easily 
soluble. It also accelerates the affects of alcohol.

It is sold on the street for just pounds 10 for 10 pills. A two milligram 
dose can put a person into an excited, agitated and uninhibited state, 
leaving them with no recollection of events.

GHB: A common drug in the underground scene. Developed as an anaesthetic, 
outlawed as a hormone stimulate, it is now a clubbers' drug commonly known 
as "liquid ecstasy". Comes as a liquid in small plastic containers similar 
to hotel shampoo bottle. There are about nine hits per pounds 10 bottle.

ZOPLICLONE: A tranquilliser used for insomniacs, it induces a hypnotic 
state in users. Usually in pill form - although it can be crushed into a 
powder - it can be recognised by a bitter aftertaste Researchers at 
Ninewells Hospital in Dundee recently urged people using the drug not to 
drive after evidence that use contributed to car accidents.

KETAMINE: Known as K, Special K or Vitamin K, Ketamine is most commonly 
used as a veterinary anaesthetic. Easily soluble, it takes a rapid effect 
on the user, effectively paralysing the victim's mind for about 30 minutes.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart