Girl raped at 13 will have to wait nearly three years for justice because of pandemic court backlogs
The father of a girl who was raped aged 13 has spoken of his family’s devastation that court delays mean she has been waiting two years for her case to be heard.
The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was raped during a daytime trip to meet friends in a neighbouring village in July 2020.
Her father has described how his family was left ‘flattened’ when the long-awaited trial was postponed for nine more months only days before it was due to begin.
The father of a girl who was raped aged 13 has spoken of his family’s devastation that court delays mean she has been waiting two years for her case to be heard
The case is now not expected to come to court until March, about two years and eight months since the assault. At one stage, the defendant even got a job working in the local shop, ‘30 feet away from my daughter’s bedroom’, the father told BBC Radio 4 Today.
Troublingly, he even advised others not to bother pursuing justice through the courts. Last night a government source condemned the family’s ‘appalling’ experience.
