Tales of True Crime: True Rape Stories

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In her book on trauma and survival, My Body Keeps Your Secrets, Lucia Osborne-Crowley writes about alcohol addiction as a coping mechanism in the wake of her rape. She writes: “All these months of self-medicating were driven by the belief that if I just waited for more time to pass, if I just got myself to the next day, to the next appointment, eventually it would get better. It didn’t.” I won't torture the reader or myself with the details of what they did to me. Suffice to say, I was the victim of a "ramming" - one of their catchphrases. I was raped by Simon and Phil in turn, each with the "assistance" of the other. To this day I can still feel the chill metal of Phil's nipple-rings pressing against my flesh as I was torn apart in every sense. I often wake from nightmares where I am having the breath squashed out of me, a huge weight pushing down on me and the smell of his aftershave in my nose. The number of reported rapes rose in the years following the brutal 2012 gang rape and murder of a student in India’s capital, New Delhi, potentially because of greater awareness surrounding the issue since. Experts say the outrage has helped to lift the shame around discussing rape.

KATIE WAS AWOKEN AT 2.45AM BY ‘THE POLICE’ BANGING ON HER FRONT DOOR, DEMANDING SHE OPEN UP. TERRIFIED AS TO WHAT WAS GOING ON, THE 29-YEAR-OLD RAN TO THE DOOR EXPECTING TO SEE UNIFORMED OFFICERS. INSTEAD SHE WAS MET BY DEAN, 32, A FRIEND OF HER EX-BOYFRIEND’S. My step-dad did not lay a hand on me again after CPS was notified. The verbal abuse was worse then ever though. When I was 17, my step-dad hurt my cat. That’s when I called up my real dad and asked him if I could live with him. He came and got me and my cats right away.

Man in the Window

Reach out to someone you trust. It's common to think that if you don't talk about your rape, it didn't really happen. But you can't heal when you're avoiding the truth. And hiding only adds to feelings of shame. As scary as it is to open up, it will set you free. However, it's important to be selective about who you tell, especially at first. Your best bet is someone who will be supportive, empathetic, and calm. If you don't have someone you trust, talk to a therapist or call a rape crisis hotline.

Someone asked me how I keep going. It used to be my son. Now, the only thing that stops me from swallowing my entire bottle of pain pills is my cats. I promised them a “furever home.” I cannot imagine how scared they would be for strangers to come in and cage them and take them away from their comfy home. He hit me around the head and threw me on to the floor, where he violently raped me. I was trapped underneath him and scared for my life. There was nothing I could do. Sobbing throughout, I begged for Dean to stop. When he was done, I prayed it was over but instead he did it again – raping me in the lounge, the kitchen and the bedroom. A sexual assault is any sexual act that a person did not consent to, or is forced into against their will. It is a form of sexual violence and includes rape (an assault involving penetration of the vagina, anus or mouth), or other sexual offences, such as groping, forced kissing, child sexual abuse, or the torture of a person in a sexual manner. At 15, I overdosed on Advil. I was questioned by many people at the hospital but I was still too terrified to speak about my parents. I blamed it all on a bad grade.I applaud the 17-year-old's ability to tell her parents and go to the police. Much of my anger is at myself for my inability to do these things. At the age of 14, I could only see that it was my fault. I lied to my parents, I agreed to go to the house, I didn't know how to stop the men raping me and so how could I face my family with that amount of shame? I didn't report the rape until many years later, and even then I decided in the end that I couldn't go through with it. I had moved away and wanted to forget it had ever happened. After the third rape, when Kris thought she could endure no more, she moved again and realized he was gone. Most sexual assaults are carried out by someone known to the victim. This could be a partner, former partner, relative, friend or colleague. The assault may happen in many places, but is usually in the victim's home or the home of the perpetrator (the person carrying out the assault). However, high-profile rape cases continue to make headlines. In September this year, police arrested 33 men for the alleged gang rape of a 15-year-old girl in Maharashtra.