Having a medical examination

For victims of sexual offences, police may offer you a medical examination especially if the incident was recent. The dual purpose of the examination is to check your physical health and collect any possible evidence such as injuries, semen, blood or hair. Police can arrange for this to happen through FAMSAC. This evidence can be gathered for the police investigation, although it can only be given to police with your consent.

A doctor or nurse from FAMSAC carries out the examination. Ideally, this should be done within 72 hours of the incident. However, it may still be possible to complete an examination after this time. This will be decided between the doctor and the police officer and you.

If the incident happened some time before you sought help, it is unlikely that a medical examination will be undertaken except to check for any injury.