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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

A rapist's "apology"

38 replies

InmaculadaConcepcion · 30/04/2011 10:30

Here

He thought writing a letter to say sorry and to offer to make it up to his victim would salve his guilty conscious.

Ultimately he got convicted of sexually assaulting his victim. But the punishment meted out was laughable.

The description of the various things that happened made me seethe.

OP posts:

Report

psychoveggie · 30/04/2011 10:40

I just read that too, was heartened by the response of the police 20 years down the line, but the sentencing and imprisonment (and "human error" putting him down as non-violent) was terrible. I wonder if he had been black what his sentence would have been? I know that's blunt but it does seem unusual in leniency.

TheCrackFox · 30/04/2011 10:43

He only served 6 months!!

InmaculadaConcepcion · 30/04/2011 10:44

I agree. It seems like the police did their bit, which is something. I suppose the rapist's confessional letters and emails cleared away any ambiguities from their point of view.

And the rapist's lawyers' description of his conduct as "ungentlemanly". Jeez.

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SybilBeddows · 30/04/2011 10:54

the police did their bit because the letters of apology will have made him a low-hanging fruit, I presume; a relatively easy rape case to get a conviction for. It doesn't necessarily mean that they now always deal well with rape cases.

shocking that someone can be sentenced to 10 years and then only serve 6 months of that.

the fact that she had been lied to about the frat house not being under police jurisdiction is appalling.

SueSylvesterforPM · 30/04/2011 11:41

I was looking for the actual letter

sadly the pathetic sentence does not shock me

InmaculadaConcepcion · 30/04/2011 12:12

Yep, SB, that's what I meant: "low-hanging fruit" covers it well.

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dittany · 30/04/2011 17:29

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

HecateQueenOfTheNight · 30/04/2011 17:38

My god. six months.

I think he got in touch with her to relive it. I wouldn't mind betting that he was getting some sort of sexual thrill from it.

It's bloody disgusting, the lack of any real punishment for rape. It's like the system says well, I suppose we'd better be seen to do a little something, shut the women up a bit. But they don't care to actually punish.

I mean, ffs, you can get longer for stealing from a supermarket than for brutally violating a woman.

If anyone ever doubted how little women are worth...

AyeRobot · 30/04/2011 18:17

Horrific. Poor woman.

Bet he didn't run that amend by his sponsor... I wonder if he even considered an amend that meant handing himself in AND alerting the authorities when he was released early. Course not, because that wasn't what it was about.

Hopefully the publicity will mean that other women he has raped will come forward because there is not a cat in hell's chance that she has been the only one.

EllieG · 30/04/2011 20:36

That's a horrific account. I agree, it sounds like contacting her was part of his fantasy. And he only got 6 months - what a horrible insult to victims. Disgusting.

onepieceofcremeegg · 30/04/2011 20:38

Yes the "ungentlemanly" comment really made me seethe too.

As did the report that in court he stared at her for 2 hours. The judge had to tell his lawyer that he could not look at her.

stripeywoollenhat · 30/04/2011 20:51

i do hope that the rest of her story involves an action against the university for their defence - through deception - of the rapist male students.

KvetaBarry · 30/04/2011 21:32

that's horrific. it makes me so bloody angry to read it, just disgusting. Agree with Stripey - hope the uni can explain their lies.

brave woman though.

LittleWhiteWolf · 30/04/2011 21:44

Thats utterly terrible.
I had a friend who was sexually attacked at uni by a fellow housemate and our uni treated her brilliantly, although she decided not to press charges. What as described in the article is just horrific.

TethersEnd · 30/04/2011 21:46

I read it and was horrified. I would like to know how the university will be made accountable for its actions at the time.

cloudyweather · 30/04/2011 21:56

eh?
".......in youre eyes that my behaviour has ......"
fuck off-he is blaming the woman for hes own wrongness/abuse still
years later the prick is still thinking him right-and seeking validation for this-its not about him being sorry at all!
what-has he found god or something-or is he still getting hes kicks and wanted to drag it up again???
6 months?fuckin crimmanal-the woman has a life sentance-
thats ok though-he served him time-so thats ok!
if he was really sorry he would of gone out of hes way to find/tell about the equell bastard that dragged the woman to him-oh shut up sparky-the prick is looking after hes own skin and fellow "men"!!!
he hasnt got a concience-just look at hes words-the bastard is still angry many years later-and him still hate women or him wouldnt of done this to her-its like him still raping her!

HandDivedScallopsrgreat · 30/04/2011 22:03

Wow - him contacting her was all about him wasn't it?

"I can scarcely begin to understand the degree to which, in your eyes, my behaviour has affected you in its wake." Implication being that in his eyes his behaviour had no effect and he certainly wasn't affected by it. There was no need to put the "in your eyes" bit in that sentence.

His subsequent correspondence was more of the same - all about him, no real interest in how it affected her.

Poor woman, and in answer to her last question - no justice wasn't served.

HandDivedScallopsrgreat · 30/04/2011 22:05

X-post with sparky!

dittany · 01/05/2011 01:15

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

LittleWhiteWolf · 01/05/2011 09:32

I found the worst part was that although she was so battered, like you point out Dittany, and had blood drying between her legs and reported it to as many people as possible as soon as she could, still no-one did anything. And then of course she got the usual "are you sure this wasn't consensual?" crap. Urgh, couldn't stop thinking about this last night. Makes my blood boil.

In this country today we offer chances for victims and criminals to meet up in controlled enviroments, but not for rape or sexual assault cases. This is just awful, especially as he just got her address from the uni (another thing they cocked up on ) and was just able to get in touch. Awful, awful, awful.

StewieGriffinsMom · 01/05/2011 09:41

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

InmaculadaConcepcion · 01/05/2011 10:05

If he had really wanted to apologise, he should have handed himself into the authorities, refused any plea-bargains and accepted the harshest penalty available for his crime.
Now that might have gone some way towards accepting the evil he did to her and making amends.

OP posts:

StewieGriffinsMom · 01/05/2011 10:56

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

bullet234 · 01/05/2011 11:01

I take it this was the article in The Guardian on Saturday. It was absolutely chilling the way no one helped her when the rape occurred, how they just covered it up and made it clear she had somehow deserved it. The university dean etc should also have been prosecuted for perverting the course of justice.
And the apology didn't strike me as one. There was no real remorse in it, no acceptance of the damage he had caused.

jenny60 · 01/05/2011 11:09

OMG: poor, poor woman. Tormenting her once obviously wasn't enough

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