Virginia Tapscott exposes with great clarity the problem of the “rule of law” in processing rape allegations (“Public allegations of rape stem from failed ‘rule of law’”, 17/3) but I suggest there is another more complex issue pertaining to the fact that most victims won’t report. The Centre for Sexual Assault in Melbourne told me a few years ago that more than 80 per cent of victims know their perpetrator, many involved in relationships with them. These relationships, often underpinned by feelings of love, however spurious, can make it very emotionally painful, let alone embarrassing and shameful, to even report a rape by a supposed loved one.

As a crime fraught with intimate and private anguish, reporting rape is unfortunately about more than just training the police, judges and barristers not to entertain “misconceptions” and even the failure of the “rule of law”. Perhaps it’s just a tragedy of the human condition.