NE in every three females is made the victim of a sexual assault or suffers sexual abuse. For men, it's one in every four.

These are, however, uncertain statistics ? a staggering number of persons violated by sex crimes choose to keep the experience private.

"It is estimated that less than ten per cent of the world's figures are reported," said Detective Sergeant Mark Clarke of the Police Juvenile Domestic Crimes Unit.

"There is often reluctance to come forward for fear of public humiliation; of public perception of the crime. Sexual assaults ? especially rapes involving women ? seem to be one of the only offences that carry the criteria that (a jury) believe the woman. It's not based on any science.

"It's clear there is a myth ? real rape versus actual rape ? which must be broken. The community believes a real victim to be someone who is attacked in the dark by a stranger and raped at knifepoint.

"If a woman is wearing a mini-skirt, if a woman is abusing alcohol, some people might take the view that she deserved (whatever happened to her). There is never going to be a perfect victim. It's up to the community at large to stop applying these criteria; to not bring these unfair expectations to trial.

"If we could get past that and just focus on the victim and her circumstances, we could go a long way towards healing those people who are brave enough to come forward, and to putting predators where they belong."

The Sexual Assault Response Team was formed in 1998. The idea was that a team approach would enable better care for victims of sexual assault and hopefully lead to an increase in the reporting of sex crimes. As a result, a private, isolated area at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital (KEMH) has been made available in which professional care is provided to victims.

"(SART provides) a nice marriage of medicine and care," said Anne Mello, chair of the group's executive board. "(Victims) need more than just a sexual exam; they need medical care and so it works well. We're grateful to the Bermuda Hospitals Board for providing all they do. Without this very favourable environment, we could not occur."

to SART's establishment, victims were examined and cared for through the emergency department of KEMH, explained Loretta Santucci, the hospital's surgical programme manager. "SART wanted more and we wanted to provide that," she said. "While we can't prevent unfortunate circumstances, we can help with post-care and provide an environment conducive (to recuperating from) a crime such as that.

"And that's our mandate ? to provide a private place for patients; a secure place in KEMH. We want to keep their anonymity as much as possible. Our role, mainly, is to provide a haven for them and we're glad to be a part of this."

The Sexual Assault Response Team formed following a meeting of representatives from the Bermuda Hospitals Board, the Department of Health, the Police Service, the medical profession, the Women's Resource Centre and other interested community members. Today, it has an executive board of ten members, an organising committee of six members, two nurse examiners, and a physician examiner.

"Before SART, each of the agencies addressed the problem in a segmented way," Mrs. Mello explained. "We decided the team approach would be much more effective for our mandate, which was to provide compassionate care for victims as well as to collect timely forensic evidence. So, we established this collaborative team, which has been very successful. But we believe it is time for us to now say prevention of sexual assault; that is the key factor. The main thing is to prevent it from happening in the first place."

The programme was established through the assistance of the Bank of Bermuda Foundation and the Bermuda Junior Service League and largely based on a successful programme used by the Tulsa, Oklahoma Police Department.

Judith Brewster-Minors, Community Health Visitor with the Department of Health, is a former SART volunteer; today she serves as the organisation's sexual assault co-ordinator.

"I originally volunteered as a nurse for the SART programme," she explained. "In 1999 seven of us took a (basic training) programme and, in 2001, four of us were sent to Oklahoma for extended training."

One benefit of the visit, she explained, was that the Tulsa Police Force sees more sexual assault cases reported on a daily basis than in Bermuda, thus providing those attending with invaluable field experience. "The numbers are (relatively) low in Bermuda, maybe one or two per month. Within the time of the inception of SART, we've seen 60."

Through Cathy Bell, the co-ordinator of the American programme, Mrs. Brewster-Minors said the group learned which areas to focus on in a sexual assault, how to identify and document bruises, various types of trauma and injury, and how to apply the nursing process in collection of evidence.

"It's a step-by-step procedure where we collect specimens ranging from hair samples, to urine, to blood, to saliva, to semen, in addition to whatever debris is found on the victim's clothing," she said. "After we completed the Oklahoma programme, we were given pagers and sent to work with the Oklahoma team to see how they worked in comparison. It was an invaluable experience and what we learned, we were able to come back and share with the team."

. Brewster-Minors said that she and two others sat the international forensic examination this year, qualifying as certified forensic experts. Their success marks the first time applicants outside the United States and Canada have passed the exam.

"We do the exams, collect the evidence and make them feel as comfortable as possible," she said. "But we're also prepared to deal with the psychological and spiritual ramifications of victims; we know how to unlink them from trauma that could be life lasting. Sometimes they retain certain smells, sights and memories (which, if experienced again) can trigger post-traumatic stress.

Victims sometimes blame themselves for the assault. We gain their trust, must be non-judgmental and refer them back to the Women's Resource Centre for a follow-up. It's something we do for male and female victims."

A member of the group is on-call 24 hours a day. Most of the victims they see are female ? global statistics sit at an estimated 90 per cent. Det. Sgt. Clarke said the police receives complaints in a number of ways ? from the victims themselves, their family and/or friends, and through such organisations as KEMH and the Women's Resource Centre.

"As far as police are involved, there is a certain protocol once a complaint has been made," he said. "The Government clinics, KEMH and the emergency room, all general practitioners, the Women's Resource Centre, have all been made aware of the protocol we would like to see adopted by persons in contact with victims."

All involved agree that community education is the best way forward.

"I think every member and agency and institution involved (with SART) takes crime seriously and the professionalism of care is an indication of our concern of the problem," said Mrs. Mello. "What we hope is to bring other issues to the public. We want the community to recognise their role in this. The community has a mandate to be more aware."

Sharon Apopa, director of counselling at the Women's Resource Centre, said that better educating the community on sexual assault and its many ramifications was something her group had worked on for years, with regular programmes offered to the public each January.

"The number one challenge seems to be a great need of education in the community ? and it's something the WRC does on an ongoing basis ? so when the prosecution and police do their job, we get a body of informed people on trial that can make informed decisions on cases," she said.

"At the moment, we have myths and until they are dispelled, I'm not sure we can go further in terms of conviction rates.

"Each member of the community has an onus of responsibility for how they deal with this issue. Bermudians take one position if it's a relative (who's a victim) and another if it's a stranger. The community has to be more responsive and come out with a stance that is supportive of what we are trying to accomplish."

What is also important to the team is helping victims recover from the horrific experience.

"In Bermuda, sexual assault is generally accepted as any assault of a sexual nature that has been visited upon a person without their approval," said Det. Sgt. Clarke. "There is no one category of sexual assault. (But no matter what form,) there is a lot of trauma involved.

"One of the post-traumatic experiences is fear. Another is shock ? shock as to what has occurred to them and fear as to what could have happened ? injury, mutilation or even death. Victims have a tendency to wonder if they've done anything to cause the assault. They need to be aware that (in crimes such as these) there is a predator/prey relationship. It's victim based. One should understand that they have been singled out in some instances because of their vulnerability, and taken advantage of.

"There have certainly been very public cases where the accused has been found not guilty. That doesn't say (the crime) did not occur, only that a jury of his peers found (the alleged attacker) not guilty of the offence under which he was charged. So another fear of the victim is not being believed."

Apopa said there were two reasons victims shied away from taking offenders to court. "Victims are reluctant to go to trial.There are two things ? the perception, as a woman's advocate, is that not as many people are held accessible through the legal process as could be; the impact on themselves far outweighs the outcome of the trial.

"Also, the concept of secondary trauma, the psychological and emotional impact of going to trial, is further complicated by the way in which trials are reported in the media.

"We'd like to see more responsible reporting. (It's not necessary) to disclose all the gory details just to sell newspapers. It's important that victims feel we're sensitive to them."