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Well, there's also the issue that it already has been reported, at least in some sense - it hasn't been reported to the Police. It's hard to say much without knowing where you are, but in what are generally seen as equivalent felonies the act of pressing the charges is undertaken by the police on behalf of the state - that is, the plaintiff in the case is the Crown in the UK, or the State or federal government in the US. So, your friend would be either reporting or failing to report the crime rather than pressing charges. This sounds like pedantry, but it means, for example, that once the crime was reported it would possibly be out of her hands as to whether the case was brought to court - although her willingness to testify would affect the decision of whether to prosecute, probably - at which point she would be asked to testify in the case as a witness, rather than as the plaintiff. Again, I don't know about the national law, but your director might be culpable for not reporting what he believes to be a felony - in part as a result of a duty of care to what I assume are students hosted by his organisation. If he takes some other action - for example, warning students away from this man's bar without there being any court proceeding - then he may well find himself in trouble for something resembling defamation of character.
This is a horrible situation, and has clearly come at the worst possible time, in terms of what to do next - no doubt your friend doesn't want to have to stay in the country a moment longer than necessary, or disrupt her life by coming back to testify. And one problem, from a purely personal point of view, is that in terms of her own equilibrium it might be better for her not to do so - especially if there is little chance of securing a conviction (no witnesses, no physical injury, no forensic evidence).
On preview - as XK says, it is possible that an investigation would shake loose something prior (or secure a confession, for that matter), and also that the wife and children might not be best served by no investigation - I mean, the problem is that these are questions to which there is no right answer. If you could be absolutely sure that somebody would never reoffend, the case for punishment would be very different... in this case, if she has been assaulted as she was about to leave the country, then that may have happened before and it may happen again - but reporting it may or may not make a difference to this, and might be more personally damaging to your friend than not reporting it - or vice versa. It's impossible to make a confident prediction of what would happen, for your friend or for anyone else.
I think you and your friend actually need _legal_ advice, possibly - do you have a councillor or welfare office, as a first port of call. And, regardless of whether it is to accumulate evidence, it sounds like a good idea to see a doctor before a (long? plane?) journey.
On preview:
Not that repercussions always deter, but people will know about the offense if it is reported and they be able to protect themselves. Such as a company looking into the perp's background and being able to protect their employees.
I think we have to say here, if there is a conviction. But yes - a conviction might well make it far less likely that the convicted would be given a job in which they were regularly placed in situations where reoffending was more likely. Balancing the social and personal costs and benefits of this kind of thing is a horrible thing - I'm very sorry your friend is having to go through it, TG. |
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