The Forensic Examination

Forensic!

It's that kind of word that you hear on TV.
Never would I think that I would go through a forensic examination. Nor did I really know what it was.
But thanks to G, I now know.

My Soit officer who I shall refer to as N, picked me up in a car and drove me to the Sexual Assault referral centre in central London called the Haven.
Sleep deprived, food deprived, not showered we arrived after battling London morning traffic.
Me and N walked in and sat in a small room with a nurse.
Whilst sipping my coffee (by the way, I realised that coffee was something that held me together for the first days, maybe even months) the nurse explained the procedures, what would happen during the next 4 or so hours. I think through the first entire week I was in a bubble of not really believing anything around me was actually happening. Everything felt pretty distant.
Once the doctor had taken the statement from the police, she read it out to me, so again I had to hear my story from someone elses view. Then we went through it again together, so I told her my story of evens, filled in any gaps. Filled out many different paperworks and then we were all set to go. First they swabbed my hands and fingernails for any DNA, then they swabbed my mouth and throat. Then it was time to get naked and into a gown, so they could examine my body from head to toe and take swabs and looks for any bruises or injuries, that they then marked down on a piece of paper.
After that, time to lie down on the scary chair and spead your legs. They took DNA with long swabs from places where long DNA swabs should not be. In and around and poking about in both holes.

The only thing that makes me feel better about this experience, was that I was in a nice safe environment with nice ladies, whilst he had to give DNA by getting his penis swabbed in a prison cell by police officers.

All in all, I felt relatively good at the Haven, all the nurses and doctors were absolutely great. Made you feel so safe and good. They really felt caring. And they do provide excellent after-care also.

After that ordeal was over and done, harder times was still to come. Just after, we had to drive around the area of Fulham where it happened, to see if I could identify the place. More on that later.