From personal experience, I'd have to say that in an alleged assault against someone of the opposite sex, the accused is treated as guilty until proven innocent. Last year, I was in the Brampton courthouse, as a witness for a case. I took the opportunity to sit and watch the wheels of our justice system grind slowly on. There was a " Domestic Assault" case being heard. The father and the mother, or, if you prefer, husband and wife, had been having a heated argument in the kitchen of their home. The husband raised his left hand over his right shoulder, and then thought better of it and walked away. Their children, aged nine and eleven, saw him raise his hand, ran to their room and called 911. The police attended and removed him from his home, despite the protestations of his wife to the contrary. She refused to press charges, but the police laid them anyway. Their reasoning? The "threatening gesture" constituted assault. The judge was perplexed as to what to do. He couldn't dismiss the charges as the husband readily admitted that he had raised his hand, and by legal definition, that gesture constituted assault. The judge heard from the husband's lawyer that the couple were devout worshippers at their Mosque and had been receiving counseling from their church. The Judge stated that he was concerned that anything he did, as far as sentencing was concerned, could severely impact the family, as the husband was required to travel to the U.S. for his employment, and a conviction that would result in his inadmissability to the U.S. could foreseeably result in the unemployment of the family's sole income. The judge actually said that it was the most unassault assault that had ever been brought before him. Eventually, after discussing it with the Crown, he found a charge that would not result in a record that would impede the husband's employment. The final sentence? $100.00 and some community service. All for what Ralf Kramdon did every Saturday night when he said " to the moon, Alice, to the moon" and the nation laughed. ( obscure vintage T.V. reference from Jackie Gleason's " The Honeymooners")
I also have had the personal experience of being accused of rape. Twenty five years ago, at a bar I was working at, one of the guys I worked with came to me at the end of the night and said he needed a wingman. He had a girl that was hot to trot, but needed someone to cover her friend. I had no plans, so I said sure, why not. We sll hopped in my car after the bar closed and went to a local park. The other guy buggered off with his chick into the bushes and I sat there shhooting the shit with her friend. We got along fine, but the vibe that it wasn't going anywhere was obvious and we both knew that we were just killing time while her friend got her freak on. About forty-five minutes later, they showed up looking disheveled and happy. We took them back to the the bar and dropped them off at their car. I went to an after hours house party and didn't think anything of it. That is until I rolled home the following afternoon. My answering machine had about twenty messages, all the same... call work NOW!! It would seem that the girl my buddy was with had called home and her fiance was freaking out. She had called the police and conncocted a rape story to explain her being missing until five in the morning. She had also gotten her friend, the one I sat there and casually shot the shit with, in on it. I went to work immediately and was met by detectives and uniformed officers. I told them what happened, and my story fit with the story of the guy I worked with as to what had occured the night before. After an hour or so of questioning, I was asked if I was willing to remove my shirt, as the girl my buddy was with had said that we both raped her and that she had fought back and marked me. I said sure and removed my shirt... Not a mark on me, of course. I was asked to " go sit over there " , which I did. About a half an hour later, I was told that I was free to go.. One of them, I wasn't told which one, had cracked and told the truth about what had happened. I don't know if either of them were charged or not from that, I never persued it as I was never charged or inconvienienced after that. But I do know that the onus wasn't on anyone to prove I did it, the onus was on me to prove I didn't. I could just as easily have gone to jail until trial. If the two of them would've conncocted a bullet proof story..... If I would have gone home instead of showing up the next afternoon, I would have been charged and stayed in until....
I'm not saying that women shouldn't be taken seriously when they make an allegation of sexual assault or abuse, but what I experienced was the receiving end of a false accusation. If I were to say you broke into my house and stole my property, I'd need video or fingerprints or other damning evidence to have a charge pressed. This is not the case with assault involving a member of the opposite sex. It's a given that if the woman you live with scratches her face with her own fingernails calls 911 and says you did it, your bed that night will have a concrete pillow and your wrists will have nice ring marks on them for a few days. You also won't be allowed in your own home, except to pick up personal belongings with a police witness, until it goes to court.
After that experience, i won't have sex with a chick that's been drinking unless I've had sex with her when she was sober...
