Helena’s* Story – Victims’ Awareness Week

Content warning: This blog contains references to the impact of hate crime, terminal illness and grief. 

When Helena’s* partner became disabled as a result of a severe stroke, they began to experience a series of hate crimes perpetrated against them by a neighbour. After a long period of continued abuse, the individual was arrested and convicted in court. Victim Support Scotland supported Helena during the court process, towards the end of her ordeal.

We featured Helena and her partner’s full story as part of Hate Crime Awareness Week in October 2024 which you can read here.

Here, for Victims’ Awareness Week 2025, Helena talks about the importance of being heard as a victim of crime.

Initial experience with reporting 

“Unfortunately, my experience was a negative one, the reason being that the officers that attended were not familiar with the situation – they didn’t take details of the accused, of our abuser. It was essentially written off.

Both myself and other witnesses weren’t listened to. The victims care card wasn’t handed to me, they put it on the table of the neighbour’s house. And when I looked at it, it had ‘neighbours dispute’. Which it clearly wasn’t, it was a despicable hate crime. I waited seven months and heard nothing. It wasn’t a good experience, but what I would say is that not all officers are the same.”

The importance of being heard 

“Officers should take the time to listen to the circumstances, so they have an understanding of what happened. It’s really important that the victim knows that they are being listened to, that the officers realise what is happening – in my case, it was evident that they lacked experience in this type of crime.

They should have taken advice from a supervisor so I knew that they had listened to me. That would have improved the experience. As I said it was totally negative – it was a big dent in my confidence.

The way being not listened to impacted on me as well was, at the time, my partner was terminally ill. We had the police at the home and my partner didn’t have a voice. I was my partner’s voice. The impact was that there was no criminal justice for my partner as well.

There is a need to listen to what the victim says. And each victim is an individual, not a statistic. Some people are affected by crime differently to others. And like I said before, if officers have already established the facts, it changes your perspective, it changes your morale, thinking that people haven’t listened to what you’ve said. It changes your anxiety and stress levels.”

Accessing support 

“It wasn’t until the breaches of bail that the sergeant said ‘would you like me to get in touch with Victim Support Scotland’, and I said yes. This was after 18 months of putting up with my journey, and grieving losing my partner.

They provided emotional support and were with me every step of the way. Prior to being offered the support I was isolated.  I didn’t want to burden my family; I was bottling everything up. I wasn’t eating. It was a tremendous relief and weight off my mind to speak and tell someone and not put the worries on my family.

The support volunteer reassured me and answered my questions. The staff member who was the coordinator, became my rock, my anchor. He was really experienced and explained different legislation and the special measures I was entitled to. It’s fantastic you have volunteers, but it’s also really good to have staff members that have expertise and experience to feed that back to the victim. That helped tremendously and I can’t thank them enough for giving me back my life.

My experience was 100% positive, I wasn’t written off, I was listened to and when I asked for assistance about my victim impact statement… that was huge. It meant so much to me and having it read out in court explaining the impact that it had on us felt like both my late partner and I had a voice, and that I was getting a little bit of justice back for my late partner.

Someone just to listen and not to be judgemental and also acknowledged my late partner by his name impacted on me in a good way as I knew someone was at last was listening.

I no longer felt isolated, I actually looked forward to the meeting. I also knew I could phone or email.  Today, just by having that continued support, and being able to optimise my other life experiences, I feel I’m actually getting somewhere. Being able to express myself by talking and improving my confidence when facing people.”

Hope for future change 

“The justice system needs to acknowledge that they are failing victims. Victims have requirements, to be able to understand the process and the justice system has the ability to make that change. My hope for the future is that the justice system, along with the government, will acknowledge there are failings in the system and that they need to address them.

These issues include trial backlogs causing anxiety and disruption to people attending court as witnesses, and court entrance arrangements causing concern to witnesses that on the day of trial they will encounter the accused.

System-related change, such as weekend court sittings and earlier arrival times given for the accused in a trial, could alleviate some of these anxieties for victims and witnesses.

A victim’s journey can be long and painful. People are unaware of the justice system, so they rely on being supported through that justice system to help them on that sensitive journey.  For some it’s a journey into the unknown, that requires answers to questions. And that journey can be diverse, the justice system needs to commit to ongoing improvements, for past victims, for present victims and for future victims.”

My message to people affected by crime 

“You become a victim through circumstances unknown and through no fault of your own. Nobody asks to become a victim. Please be aware there is support available, you might not think that at the time, because you are bottling up and can’t comprehend what is happening. and asking yourself a lot of the questions – why it’s happened, and why they picked you.

And the second part of that is, don’t feel alone. I was initially isolated, prior to getting the support from VSS. Remember it’s okay not to be okay, please don’t go it alone.

The support doesn’t have to be face-to-face, it could be by phone or online too. It can take a lot of courage to step inside a door.  However, VSS is an open door. And by taking these first steps, it will help you through this awful journey supporting you every step of the way.

But I felt totally isolated, I shut myself in, I didn’t answer the door, I was alone, and it wasn’t until I’d been given the support by Victim Support Scotland that I realised I’m not alone.

I would like to reiterate don’t go it alone, or you’ll wear yourself out. It impacts on your mental health and wellbeing, by bottling things up. It takes a lot of courage – but just ask for help.”