Australian Bonny Turner to spearhead landmark UK legal challenge to rape case

The man accused of raping Bonny Turner texted an apology for what happened, she claims, but it wasn’t enough to see him charged. Now she’s fighting back.

An Australian woman claiming to be a victim of rape* is spearheading a landmark legal challenge being heard in the UK this week.

Bonny Turner, 43, who has waived her right to anonymity, says she was raped in 2016 by a man she knew but prosecutors chose not to pursue the case despite text messages she claims show he apologised for raping her.

The End Violence Against Women (EVAW) Coalition believes Ms Turner’s case could be one of many that was not pursued after the UK Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) allegedly introduced a secret policy change in 2016/17.

The Coalition claims the policy change meant prosecutors were encouraged to drop “weak cases” as part of a “risk adverse” approach to artificially improve the Crown Prosecution Service’s conviction rate.

Although reports of rape increased by around 30 per cent in the four years to March 2020, the number of rape prosecutions in England and Wales has more than halved during the same period.

The result was described as the “effective decriminalisation of rape” by Victims Commissioner Dame Vera Baird QC last year.

Ms Turner’s case is one of around 20 that will be used in the Court of Appeal this week against the DPP, which is the head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

Her story highlights some of the complexities in prosecuting rape cases.

The former Melbourne resident, who has been living in the UK for 16 years, claims she was attacked by a man who she previously had a casual consensual sexual relationship with.

Ms Turner said the man was a close friend at the time “and he came to visit me in London,” she told news.com.au.

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Bonny Turner says she was raped by a friend in 2016.

‘I THOUGHT I WAS HAVING A NIGHTMARE’

She alleges she went to visit the man at his hotel room one night and had gone to sleep while he prepared for a meeting in the morning. At some point she claims she became aware of him on top of her, forcing himself inside her.

“It was completely dark and I actually thought I was having a nightmare,” she said.

Ms Turner alleges she could hear him but she couldn’t move her body – she felt paralysed.

“Eventually I shoved his shoulders off using the heel of my hands and I shouted, ‘Stop!’

“And it was just a sudden like stop. I then fell asleep or kept on sleeping. I never fully woke from the experience.”

The next morning Ms Turner claims her friend asked her if she was OK because she was staring into space.

“I said, ‘I’m not OK. What you did last night, it’s not OK,’ and he said, ‘Oh yeah, sorry about that,’” she said.

“That’s when I started to think, ‘Oh, it really happened; it wasn’t just a dream.’”

Ms Turner said she was due to see him off at the airport a few days later but she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

“I woke up heart racing in the middle of the night sobbing, sweating, having my first panic attack after the rape, and I said, ‘I don’t want to go to the airport with you. I don’t want to see you again.’”

TEXT MESSAGES ALLEGEDLY ASK FOR FORGIVENESS

She claims he messaged her repeatedly for the next couple of weeks. In their messages, Ms Turner told her alleged attacker she was “fast asleep” when she says he forced himself inside her.

She says he replied: “I know. I made a huge mistake and have been thinking about how wrong I was since then. Please forgive me.”

He then said he “noticed too late” Ms Turner was sleeping at the time, and then allegedly replied: “That is why I stopped, but I should not have even tried from the beginning. I am so deeply sorry.”

Despite showing these text messages to police, officials did not lay charges against the man.

Messages that Bonny Turner says she received after being raped.

The man allegedly apologised for his actions.

UNLAWFUL CHANGE IN POLICY

Former DPP principal legal adviser Alison Levitt QC told The Guardian in 2018 that it was easy to prosecute a case where a “perfect” victim is violently attacked by a stranger.

“The challenge for prosecutors is how to prosecute cases where the victims are vulnerable and arguably more complicated, for example if they have mental health difficulties or chaotic personal circumstances,” she said.

“A system that only prosecutes safe cases is sending attackers the message that vulnerable people are open to abuse as the CPS will not prosecute.”

Ms Levitt has noted that juries were reluctant to convict in “difficult cases” where for example there has been a delay in reporting or the complainant is intoxicated.

This is because juries were often influenced by rape myths and stereotypes.

Prosecutors had previously been encouraged to consider the evidence as if it will be heard by an unprejudiced jury in a “merits-based approach” when considering whether to pursue a case, rather than focusing on whether a jury was likely to convict. This approach gave women more confidence to come forward.

But evidence from a whistleblower in the Crown Prosecution Service claims this changed in 2016/17 when prosecutors were discouraged from pursuing rape cases due to the high number that were not resulting in convictions.

There was a fall in the conviction rate from 52.4 per cent of prosecuted cases in 2011/12 to 45 per cent in 2016/17.

The EVAW Coalition argues the change in rape prosecution policy and practice was unlawful and led to a significant fall in the number of cases going to court.

Of the 55,259 rapes reported last year; there were only 2102 prosecutions and 1439 convictions.

The Crown Prosecution Service has said there was no change in policy.

Bonny Turner is spearheading a legal challenge in the UK this week. Picture: Frantzesco Kangaris

The judicial review case in the Royal Courts of Justice in London began on Tuesday (UK time) and is looking at whether the Crown Prosecution Service unlawfully changed its policy and practice on charging rape cases.

The case was originally denied permission for a full hearing in March 2020, but that decision was overturned by the Court of Appeal in July 2020.

DANGEROUS OFFENDERS ‘GETTING AWAY WITH IT’

EVAW Coalition director Sarah Green said there had been wide public support for the legal action.

“We have felt compelled to bring this case because it is very clear from the data, and from what women using the support services provided by our members are experiencing, that the bar has been raised on charging in rape cases – leaving women denied justice and dangerous offenders getting away with it,” she said.

“We are here for every woman and girl who has sought, is seeking or will seek justice in the future.”

As for Ms Turner, she doesn’t have much hope that the case will see her alleged perpetrator charged but said she wanted to fight for an appropriate process.

“I hear from people that a court process is really traumatising and maybe I would feel differently if I ever got to that point but from where I’m sitting now, I feel as though I want to be heard in court,” she said. “I want the evidence to be examined in court.”

She said she wanted to know what assumptions were being made about her case and also to be given the opportunity to respond.

“At the moment, it’s all so opaque,” she said.

“They just continue to say it’s his word against mine when it’s not.

“I’m really just fighting for a just process.”

* Bonny Turner has requested that she be referred to as a victim, not as a survivor, as she believes not using the word victim is another form of victim shaming

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