Over in NI a judge has halted a bail application after a man accused of choking a woman announced in court: “She likes rough sex and being strangled”. (Link archived at archive.ph)
In July 2022 the law in England & Wales was strengthened to remove the so-called “rough sex defence”. Northern Ireland actually got there a few months earlier, abolishing that line of defence is a specific provision of the Justice (Sexual Offences and Trafficking Victims) Bill of April 2022. Scotland has not brought forward any such legislation nor is there any plan to. Worryingly, the FM doesn’t seem to understand that prior to the legislative changes the rest of the UK had laws by which one could not consent to harm, yet the rough sex defence was rolling merrily through the Courts.
Seeing a judge shut down an abusive man so completely - especially in the part of the UK with the worst DV rates - is heartening. It would be even better if Scotland would get on board with the rest of the UK & accept the need to legislate the abhorrent “rough sex defence” out of existence. It’s quite something that women are STILL having to campaign to get their murders/manslaughters recognised.