The Dorset teenager Gaia Pope was devastated when she learned a man she had accused of raping her had allegedly harassed and targeted many other women and girls, an inquest jury has heard.
Pope, 19, whose body was found on a clifftop in November 2017, 11 days after she went missing, had reported the alleged rape because she wanted to protect others, jurors were told, but detectives told her there was little chance of the case succeeding and it would be traumatic to go to court, it is claimed.
A few months after she received that advice, Dorset police posted on Facebook that the man had been jailed for an unrelated sexual offence.
Giving evidence at the coroner’s court in Bournemouth, Pope’s cousin Marienna Pope-Weidemann said: “Underneath the post were hundreds of reactions and comments from people in our community disclosing their own experiences of having been harassed by him, having their 12-year-old daughter contacted by him on social media and having to intervene because he wouldn’t leave them alone.
“That was so devastating for Gaia because she felt it was proof of her worst fear, that what happened to her wasn’t an isolated incident.”
Pope’s cousin sat with the teenager when she was interviewed about the alleged rape, which she disclosed in December 2015. Pope-Weidemann said she saw how “re-traumatising” it was to be asked questions without counselling or support.
In June 2016 police told Pope the man was not going to be prosecuted. They told her she had a right to appeal against the decision. “But they described what it would be like in court being cross-examined by a defence lawyer. They said: ‘We don’t think there is any chance of it being successful and it would be very traumatic.’”
Pope-Weidemann said that after being raped, Pope, who had epilepsy, became “very anxious and very afraid”, but added: “She wanted to live. She was a survivor in every sense of the word.”
The alleged attacker continued to contact Pope. “She was terrified and desperate for any kind of protection,” Pope-Weidemann said. “But they [the police] weren’t able to give us that. She lived with fear pretty much every day for the rest of her life.” At the time of her death, Pope was worried that her alleged attacker was about to be freed.
Pope-Weidemann described how she and the rest of the family tried to get mental health support for Pope. She was admitted to hospital several times but was repeatedly discharged with “no real care plan”.
She said Pope was particularly upset when a psychiatrist wrote she had “delusions of sexual assault”. Pope-Weidemann said: “It seemed that mental health services had made up their mind that it was a delusion.”
The inquest continues.
In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support for rape and sexual abuse on 0808 802 9999 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, or 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html
