The number of rape cases recorded in Tayside has reached a four-year high.
Latest figures released by Tayside Police show detected rape crimes, including assault and intent to rape, rose to 45 in 2011, marking an increase on the previous year when the figure stood at 37.
But one local support group for sexual abuse victims says the true scale of the crime is likely to be far greater.
Rachel Coleman, from the Women’s Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre in Dundee, said that in many cases female victims choose to suffer in silence instead of contacting the authorities.
She did, however, add that the small increase recorded by police did not necessarily mean there were more cases of rape. It could mean more victims were choosing to report the crime.
”Our statistics show that around 60% of women don’t go the police, so knowing how many incidents of rape there are in a region over a given time is very difficult to quantify,” she said.
”But if it is the case that more women are approaching the police to report what has happened to them, then that is a good thing.”
The Women’s Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre offers confidential support services to women and girls aged 13 years and over who have been raped, sexually abused or sexually exploited at any time in their life.
In 2011 the centre welcomed around 140 new women from Dundee as well as from Angus, Perthshire and Fife.
”Around 45% of the women we speak to are survivors of rape,” said Ms Coleman. ”Some of the women, after experiencing something as dramatic as that, get up the next day and take the kids to school, go to work and get on with their lives rather than report it to the authorities.
”Many people do have a blame attitude towards women and not towards to where it should be targeted at the perpetrator because they are flirting and drinking. Rape Crisis Scotland is today challenging this attitude.”
The justice department last year revealed that rape and attempted rape rose by 14% in Scotland to its highest five-year point with 1,131 cases reported. That came despite recorded crime falling overall to its lowest point in 35 years.
According to latest statistics released by Rape Crisis Scotland there were 1,439 people who used support centres across the country in 2010/11. Of this, 96.8% were female, 2.9% were male, and 0.3% were transgender.
The most common abuse experienced by survivors receiving support from rape crisis centres is child sexual abuse, with 45% of clients being child abuse survivors, and 40% of clients experienced rape as an adult.
During this period, rape crisis centres also responded to 12,418 calls, and offered 6,306 appointments.
To contact the Women’s Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre call 01382 201291.