58 cases of sexual violence bearing forensic interest: congruence between the victim’s report and the data from laboratory analyses

The assistance provided by specialised healthcare personnel to victims of a sexual violence cannot focus just on the clinical intervention appropriate for the lesions suffered by the patient, but must also take legal and forensic needs into account. Anamnestic data represents a crucial step towards the finding of forensic evidence. Our retrospective study aims to analyse the congruence between verbal reports from abused women and the laboratory data to the end of identifying ways for enhancing the gathering of anamnestic data. We considered 960 medical records related to sexual violence that reached the Rape Centre “Soccorso Violenza Sessuale” of Turin between 2003 and 2013. Having consulted the register of evidence, we selected the cases for which the local judicial authority had asked for expert advice on biological material. The selected cases have been gathered in two different categories depending on whether the victim could or could not recall the events. Then, we looked at the results of the cytological analysis performed to identify the presence of sperm cells, at the results of the body fluid identification, and at the results of the DNA quantitation. Our findings strongly suggest that forensic investigations should be carried out independently from the presence of memories of the traumatic events on the victim’s part. Moreover, they suggest that forensic investigations should also be pursued in the presence of a negative cytologic examination.