Teenage rape victim faces three-year wait for trial, dad describes the ordeal as 'a complete nightmare'

Many criminal trials remain stuck in the court system due to the continuing funding cuts and the global pandemic's effect hindering operations.

This backlog has pushed cases to be heard years later, like in the case of Husain's daughter, whose already two-year delayed case was further d23elayed for nine more months as a suitable judge could not be found to hear the case.

Mishal Husain, the father of the young girl who was raped, went on an interview with the Today programme.

He recalled how in the summer of 2020, Covid lockdown protocols had been lifted, and his daughter took a bus to meet some friends in a neighbouring village. One afternoon, she was on the way home when she was attacked in broad daylight.

Her father explains: "Obviously we're careful about where she goes. She wasn't out at night," yet the horrific encounter still happened to his daughter, who was just 13 at the time.

They immediately sought help from local authorities, and the perpetrator was caught, arrested and charged with the attack, but the family was told there would be a two-year wait for the trial to start, in Crown Court, in June 2022.

The family received a call, just days before the expected date of the trial, and through a "garbled" phone message from a support team member of the court, they were told proceedings had been adjourned for another nine months - until March 2023.

Although the family understands that it has been "a very difficult time" for courts since the pandemic struck in 2020, they do not feel that this circumstance excuses the pain they and especially their daughter, continues to be put through and cites the experience being "a complete nightmare."

Though the government says swift action for victims is a priority, victims still have to spend months, if not years, of rigorous questioning and examination as they are made to relive the incident every time they go on record for the case.

In fact, serious sexual offences have been recorded to take the longest time on record to go through the Crown Courts in England and Wales.

A representative for the Ministry of Justice has stated, "Restoring the swift access to justice victims deserve is our absolute priority, and we are spending almost half a billion pounds to reduce wait times, as well as boosting funding for victim support to £460m over the next three years."