“The Police provided us a negative blood report in relation to my rape matter, why don’t they throw the matter out of court then?”

Many people have an understandably so lay person perception that a rape case weight is solely based on a blood report. The latter is incorrect in all aspects as a rape matter may be determined by way of other factors either than the blood report.

Rape on its own is a very traumatic experience and is much deeper than what the external eye sees. The failure of a rape victim to report the rape immediately is no defense to the perpetrator and should not also be used to discredit the victim’s statement. Rape is not only a physical act but also does a lot mentally to the victim thereof.

Rape is typically defined as oral, anal, or vaginal penetration that involves threats or force against a person who is unwilling (i.e non-consenting) or incapacitated (because of cognitive or physical disability or intoxication). Such penetration, whether wanted or not, is considered rape.

When it comes to criminal matter of people who are accused of rape, some tend to think that using protection breaks the chain of evidence and that is not how it works. In certain cases, the state’s case may be made strong by the consistency of the victim alone, witnesses who witnessed the ordeal, or even positive blood report tested at the SAPS lab which positively tested the perpetrator’s semen inside or on the victim’s body.

In certain instances, since rape in itself is a very traumatic experience, other victims may take years to report such a crime. This just makes the victim’s case a BIT weaker but this does not mean that there is no case. The only aspect which might be difficult to prove is that of the forensic tests to be conducted by the SAPS lab in order to ascertain whether there is anything of the perpetrator which matches the DNA of the victim or not. However, lack of DNA tests being made by the state does not mean that the state does not have a prima facie case, based on allegation alone a rape case may be prosecuted by the State.

In light of the above, A DNA report is not a deciding factor in a rape matter. Rape matters are very broad and a lot of factors are taken into consideration.

Reference List:

MSD MANUAL: Professional Version Medical Examination of the Rape Victim-obstetrics/domestic-violence-and-rape/medical-examination-of-the-rape-victim