After Two Decades, Justice Was Finally Served

Survivor shares story to inspire others
The victim decided to forgo privacy to inspire other survivors to come forward about their experiences

As a member on a court jury in 2018, the individual realized he must chase accountability for his own case subsequent to raped in the year 2004.

Listening to the individuals giving evidence, I could clearly visualize myself in the same situation,” the survivor shared following the relinquishment his right to anonymity.

After the trial, the now 39-year-old from Norfolk’s Watton chose to contact local authorities a second time to detail his attacker.

On 27 February 2024, two decades post the violation, the convicted individual from Suffolk’s Oulton Broad was sentenced to an eight-year sentence in jail after being declared culpable of two charges of violation and one count of assault by penetration.

Warning - the following content includes traumatic information

The survivor had been 17 years old when he came across then 21-year-old the assailant in Norwich in 2004, and their interaction became his first relationship.

During a weekend evening in the May of 2004, the duo had attended a outdoor grill when the assailant got drunk and requested Dan to transport him home.

Near 12 AM, the perpetrator instructed Dan to stop the car on a quiet road behind the medical facility in the Norfolk area.

The assailant violated Dan and caused significant internal harm which resulted in him being taken to the hospital thrice that summer.

Deeply affected, Dan was managed to drive Gilder home before returning to his mom’s home.

“I stayed lying down for hours wondering, ‘what took place? what had just gone on?’,” he shared.

Perpetrator sentenced after two decades
Shaun Gilder was sentenced to 8 years nearly twenty years subsequent to the assault

The following September, Dan went to the police and detailed the attack.

Dan said he had provided a statement at the time, but it stalled any furthermore because he was “in poor health at that point”.

Relatives and other family members did not know he was a member of the LGBTQ+ community, he added.

“Society was distinct at that time,” he said.

Presently, the survivor serves as a managerial professional for the public administration, but he was once engaged in a detention center, where he said he would often suppress emotions when detainees discussed their own trauma.

He further stated he was assaulted on the job, which also led to traumatic recollections.

“Then the jury service. Recollections of the assault anew. It was a unceasing pattern that required cessation,” he expressed.

The female witnesses who helped secure a conviction in the 2018 hearing in which he was a juror were “inspirational”, according to Dan.

“It was profoundly impactful to see them stepping forward and giving evidence and handling the difficult questions being posed to them,” he noted.

“I had been employed at Stansted as an immigration official at the period, and I had to take three weeks off for health reasons.

“That was when I once more notified [the attack] to the law enforcement and I requested to advance the case for me, which they consented to handle,” he concluded.

Explicit Details

Law enforcement officers from the local police were tasked with Dan’s case in the year 2018, and it advanced to a charge and trial at the judicial venue in November of 2023.

Within his personal statement, Dan described how he had been found to have complex post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) connected to the violation.

“I’ve experienced, and continue to have, frequent ideas of ending my life,” he expressed.

A quarter of adult women and nearly six percent of male adults have been subject to sexual assault, or attempted violation, according to the Crime Survey for England and Wales.

A recent study found that forty-four percent of 180 people who were confronted with explicit testimony in legal settings reported signs resembling PTSD.

“Past trauma experiences, psychological challenges and immediate stress responses during a hearing can worsen emotional and stress reactions,” experts highlighted.

Mother expresses pride and anger
Dan’s mother, Nicki, expressed “there was a rage like a fire burning internally” when she addressed her son’s attacker

Back in 2004, The survivor’s parent spoke to the assailant when he came to see her son in the medical facility after Dan had informed her what had transpired.

“I felt furious similar to flames inside me. I was deeply enraged,” she stated.

The perpetrator departed and it was the ultimate instance she saw him.

In conversation with her son, she said: “I felt so proud of you for sticking by what you believed in and taking it all the way through. It was justice for you. You’d worked so hard.

“Emotionally, the experience really taken a toll on you and we could witness how you struggled.”

He mentioned his present role as an on-call firefighter for the local fire department had assisted in the healing process.

“Serving the community has offered me something to concentrate on and exist for,” he shared.

He explained he now enjoyed his three dogs, mountain bikes and exploring new places.

From May onward he has started to make recordings about his story and posts them on digital networks, where he now has a following of 12,000 on the social platform.

“It has assisted a lot of people. The amount of direct communications I’ve had to express it provided support is immense,” he stated. “{I’ve got to do

Linda Hopkins
Linda Hopkins

Tech enthusiast and digital strategist passionate about emerging technologies and their impact on society.