Can somebody help me with this please?!?!?!?!

[JP7887]

Hi, i need some information regarding this situation.

Here is a summary :

Recently a friend of mine found his girlfriend being raped by one of his friends in his own apartment,
as soon as the man was caught he left the scene, my friend, after talking to his partner to find out the details,
found that this had happened previously within the same week, but she was afraid to tell him because she feared that
his reaction would get him into trouble (she assumed that he would look for the man and attempt to harm him in some way)
she also didnt want to involve the police, because they live in quite a close-knit community the chances were that everybody
would know within hours if she did, that she had been raped.

My friend at first did not know whether he should believe her, she told him that the man hurt her during the assualt and had left
her bruised, she showed him her vagina and sure enough there was bruising in the area, he immediately took her to her GP, who further
confirmed his fears, that the bruising was consistent with the common signs of rape and/or forced penetration.
Her GP made a report and consulted her to contact the police immediately, obviously she refused to get the police involved due
to the reasons i explained earlier.

A week has passed since the second assualt took place and today my friend was walking to my house to visit, on the way to my house his mind wandered
and he ended up finding himself outise the rapist's house. When he realised where he was, he felt that he should confront the man, he knocked on
the man's door and shouted for the man to come out of his house, the man then came out of his house and a fight ensued.
During the fight a neighbour of the man came out of his house and hit my friend repeatedly with a metal baseball bat, which ended the fighting.
My friend walked away from the house and went to his mother's house to get his head around what had just happened.
After a while he returned home explaining to his girlfriend what had happened. Shortly after arriving at his apartment, the police arrived
and took him into custody.


NOTES *

*Previously, about 3 days ago, my friend had been on his way to my house and began daydreaming, thinking about what he had witnessed, before he
knew it, he was outside the mans house, he came to his senses when realising where he was and turned and walked back and up the road to my house.

*My house is situated only a few short roads from the man's house and me and the man live in a different area to my friend. (about a mile away).
(I dont know if this information has any legal relevance but i personally feel that it is worth taking into account.)

*The fight may have resulted in the rapist having an ear torn and perhaps some cranial damage. My friend has cuts and bruising to his face
from the man and so far unknown damage to his back and ribs (though there is bruising) from the neighbour with the bat.



What i need to know is:

Is there anybody with the legal knowledge to help me understand this situation from a legal point of view? or could anybody refer me to any similar case files and their respective outcomes?
Absolutely any information regarding this situation is welcome i just need to get an understanding of any and every possible outcome, and
understand the legal position that my friend is in.

Thank you in advance for your answers and/or any information that i can use.

[Carakeel]

I agree, this is a bit of an odd story, but then we all need to remember that people do not always react in a logical way to extremely stressful, traumatic situations. I know of a case where a girl was raped, battered and bruised at the age of 13 and was not able to speak about it till she was in her late 30s. Rape victims can be immensely traumatised and she may well have been afraid of speaking out for a variety of reasons. Many rape victims are led to believe it is their fault they were raped. It could also be that this girl was so frightened of the rapist that when he told her to let him in the second time, she did! Threats work! So please be careful how you judge her. As for the rest of the story ... somewhat strange, not sure what to believe.

[askyourgran]

I'm with red on this one, it sounds a bit far fetched. Only the court can decide that your friend had mitigating circumstances or not, to go and batter the alleged rapist, tbh it doesn't look good. If the girl had gone to the Police immediately after the first rape happened perhaps the case would have been looked at in a different light.