Are accused men allowed to question the complainant in court?
No. In November 1996, the then Home Secretary Michael Howard announced his intention to abolish the right of a defendant in a rape case to represent himself. This was in reaction to the case of Rallston Edwards who cross- examined Julia Mason for six days (Daily Telegraph, 23 August 1996). Her ordeal had been made worse by the fact that Edwards wore the same clothes in court as he had worn when he raped her. Michael Howard’s announcement may have indicated the government’s intention to accept a more woman-centred definition of violence by recognising the harm done to the woman in court. However, it took a change of government and another three years before legislation was introduced to prevent defendants in rape cases cross-examining the raped woman. This ‘right’ was taken away under the Youth Justice &Criminal Evidence Act 1999 after prolonged campaigning by groups such as Campaign to End Rape(CER). Date rape What is date rape?
