Raped wife must pay attacker child maintenance, says CSA
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A woman raped by her husband must now pay him thousands of pounds in child maintenance, the Child Support Agency (CSA) has told her.
A woman raped by her husband must now pay him thousands of pounds in child maintenance, the Child Support Agency (CSA) has told her.
The 43-year-old woman fears the payments will cancel out the £14,000 damages she was awarded in an historic judgment that found her husband guilty of rape. Before the case, he had been given custody of their two children in a divorce hearing. Yesterday, the CSA confirmed the woman's level of contribution for child support was being assessed. A CSA spokeswoman said although this was a "sensitive issue" there was no CSA policy which covered her situation.
The 1996 case was the first civil damages action for rape, brought after the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to bring criminal charges against the man. The civil case judge in Bradford described the 1992 attack as a violent assault that had left the wife requiring psychiatric treatment. The initial award of £7,000 was doubled
The woman has since married her childhood sweetheart and moved to West Yorkshire where she earns £14,000 as a secretary.
In 1994, before she brought the civil action, the woman divorced her husband for unreasonable behaviour but lost custody of her boys, now 14 and 16, when the family court ruled that the boys should be returned to their father in the city where they were at school.
Yesterday the woman told The Independent the CSA was asking her to pay her former husband, a welder for a leading vehicle manufacturer, up to a third of her net income for the maintenance of the two boys.
She said: "There should be something to stop a rapist being paid by the victim, even if it's supposed to be for the children. He still wants to control me and this is his way of making me have to think about him and the rape."
The Court of Appeal made rape in marriage a crime in 1991. The decision was upheld by the Lords, overturning the 250-year-old rule that a husband could not rape his wife.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments