WHILE some child victims of sexual assault are re-traumatised by relating their horrific encounter in court, others find the act of giving testimony therapeutic, even after the process results in a not guilty verdict, experts have told the Jamaica Observer.

In the courtroom, cases of sexual assault often walk a tightrope of credibility, particularly when DNA evidence fails to deliver conclusive results. In these instances the fate of the accused can pivot on the perceived trustworthiness of the victim’s testimony.

Data obtained by the Sunday Observer from Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) show that there are currently 151 cases of rape involving complainants under the age of 16, as well as 469 cases of sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 16 before the courts.

Christine Johnson Spence, acting senior deputy DPP, shared that she has seen child sexual assault victims filled with relief and peace, even when the alleged perpetrator is not punished.

“I’ve had situations where they came in the morning and they say ‘Yes, I’m ready. I want this to be over. I want to tell my story,’ and by the time their name is called and they’re to go in the box, they start crying. They’re saying they don’t want to do this right now, they need more counselling, they need more time,” Johnson Spence told the Sunday Observer, adding that many sessions have been postponed to protect the mental and emotional health of the victims.

“But what I have found with complainants is, even if [the jury] comes back [with a verdict of] not guilty, they have actually said the fact that they have gone up in the box and looked [their accuser] straight in their eyes and told what happened to them, it’s like it has almost freed them because they got an opportunity to tell their truth,” said Johnson Spence who heads the ODPP’s Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking Unit.

Johnson Spence recalled one case of a girl who had complained of being raped by her father, who was a pastor. The child’s mother took the side of the father, claiming that her daughter was lying.

“That child sat in court, and she cried when she was giving her evidence, and she looked at her mother and she said, ‘Mommy, you really are not gonna support me?’ And the mother sat there, she couldn’t look at the child. She held down her head, and the jury came back not guilty,” Johnson Spence related.

“The child looked at me, and she said, ‘You know what, I know I will have a good life.’ It’s almost like it freed her because she was able to tell her truth instead of having it bottled up. So even though they did not come back guilty, it’s like she got some relief in some way,” she added.

Consultant Psychiatrist Dr Saphire Longmore told the Sunday Observer that the feeling of relief victims get, even when a not guilty verdict is delivered, occurs because there is some level of accountability.

“The main purpose of our justice system is to give a sense of correcting or having a consequence to an act that was traumatic. So, for a lot of persons, just the process of the perpetrator being brought to some level of accountability, being made to reduce the power that they asserted in the act, could be therapeutic for the victim,” reasoned Longmore who is also a Government senator.

However, she noted that every victim is unique and could respond differently.

“Another victim may go through a process and may become re-traumatised, or exacerbated, but they should at least have the choice to know that they have that avenue to pursue. Because just being able to be heard; for an external, objective agency or entity to recognise the fact that they were taken advantage of, can bring some amount of closure — so even then it can be quite therapeutic,” she added.

Child psychologist and family therapist Dr Orlean Brown-Earle agreed, adding that testifying also builds the victim’s self-esteem.

“Can you imagine a child who realises that they have people on their side, there are people who understand what they are going through, and they allow them to say, ‘Yes, John Brown or Mary Smith did this to me.’ Of course the child is going to feel a sense of relief in being able to express him or herself,” Dr Brown-Earle said.

“It also will help to build their sense of esteem to say, ‘I was brave enough to express my thoughts and share what happened to me,’ so this would definitely help,” Dr Brown-Earle added.

She said that children, having gone through this experience, are more likely to be advocates for themselves and others in similar situations since they were allowed to release that anxiety and tension built up in them.