Stuart Hall's conviction of sexual
assault is a landmark case, in my eyes, for three reasons.
First, the fact that he confessed to
the crimes. Anyone who has studied sex abuse cases knows how rare it
is for the defendant to plead guilty, and the main reason for this is
the fact that it's notoriously difficult to prove a sexual offence.
Unless the assault was particularly violent, and the victim was left
with visible signs such as cuts and bruising (the rarest forms of
sexual abuse), evidence is circumstantial indeed. Even if the victim
went to the police straight away, and a sample of the defendant's
semen was taken from the victim's clothes or body, the case will
probably come down to whether or not the act was consensual.
This is why in court the defence will
do everything in its power to convince the jury that the victim is a
slut and a liar: because whether or not the defendant is found guilty
boils down to a she-said-he-said battle of words and character.
Hence my surprise at Stuart Hall's
confession to the crimes – an apparent change of heart, after he
first furiously denied the allegations and called them 'spurious'.
Second, the fact that he was sentenced
for his crimes. This really shouldn't be surprising – in English
law, a victim never loses the right to tell the police about a sexual
offence, there's no time limit. So although the crimes are
historical, they should get as much priority now as they presumably
would have had at the time. However, until now it was still
unprecedented for a celebrity to be convicted for historical sexual
assault, and quite rare for historic convictions even for
non-celebrities.
Third, and this is most heartening of
all: the fact that people are furious, shocked and depressed
that Stuart Hall only got 15 months. That means a lot to me. A
loveable public figure for many years – now a bastard who deserves
to rot in jail. Never mind that it was 'a long time ago', and his
victims grew up and 'got on with their lives'. Never mind that he's
83. In the public's eye, he's a child abuser just like any
run-of-the-mill paedophile.
It's still not long enough, 15 months.
I know full well it's not enough. But I imagine the fact that people
believe that it's not long enough means a great deal to his victims,
who must have sobbed alone in their bedrooms many times over all those years, thinking they'd never be
believed.
To me, it's not long enough, but it's a
huge ray of hope: it's the signal of the end of a misogynistic,
brutal era. More and more abuse allegations, not just against
celebrities, have come to light since the Jimmy Savile case, and this
isn't because more people are being raped or abused – it's because
a taboo is ending, and more victims feel that they can come forward
and speak about what happened to them.
It's a sign that one day, jokes about
rape and domestic abuse won't be funny, and intimidating others –
children, women, and men – just because you're bigger than them, or
more powerful than them, will be taboo. Because it's not – not for
a lot of people, not just yet. But we'll get there. There's hope for
us yet.
