Time limits on the reporting of crimes

I AM fundamentally opposed to the notion of placing time limits on the reporting of crimes. A crime is a crime, be it fraud, robbery, assault or murder.

According to letter writer Mr Patrick Collins, rape should not be added to that list. I’d suggest that crimes of a sexual nature are by far the most difficult to prosecute and victims should be afforded every opportunity to speak up, even decades after the event.

To say in some way a trauma can be airily dismissed after so many days and nights is to completely fail to grasp the significance of the event.

Victims can suffer a sense of shame unique in criminality and this has be taken into account in a fair hearing. I would say that everybody knows what consent is and what isn’t if they were the recipient of violent intent and memories of this can be powerful and explicit in detail. It appears that certain people commonly referred to as celebrities are not always above using their fame to act in a wholly reprehensible way.

I don’t need to name the currently newsworthy individual Mr Collins is referring to, as this “comedian” – who has strongly denied criminal allegations and says all of his relationships have been “consensual” – made a habit of openly mocking fathers and grandfathers of young girls unfortunate enough to fall for his faithless patter and notoriety.

It seems that those desperate enough to seek a male role model all too often end up online.

The time is right to offer justice to the victims of out of control perpetrators and begin to instil in our male youth the correct path to respectful behaviour for the future.