Jack Tweed found not guilty of rape

[Ponders]

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/essex/8644486.stm

hmm. Did he just get the benefit of the doubt do you think - his word against hers?

Or "she knew what he's like when she chose to go back to his house"?hmm

Will she now be named?

These cases are horrible - really hard to determine who's guilty - maybe we should adopt the Scottish Not Proven verdict.

(put this in sleb twaddle before & then realised hardly anybody reads that!)

"I am not saying that the woman in this case is an opportunist at all. How would I know? I DON'T know, any more than the rest of you do. I am simply pointing out that what could have happened is either
A) The accused raped the woman
B) The accuser made it up. "

Well there's a "C" as well that the woman did not consent but that the man honestly held the belief that she had consented, which given what the posts above indicate ( i haven't seen the transcripts) is also a possibility if it is a case of her remaining silent.

"I thought there was a new thing where the man had to prove (for lack of a better word) that consent was given,"

Not that I've heard of and not in Ireland anyway (out legal systems tend to run on similar common law ideology) so apologies if there is a british development which I have not heard of.

I actually find the defendant's account chilling to read, and even more chilling in light of his acquittal.

Nothing in his statement indicates consent from the woman. He didn't say anything to suggest that she indicated non-verbally that she wanted him to "join in".

By acquitting this pair of scumbags, the law is telling us that we are in a constant state of consent. Nice.

Molesworth - we are, legally. Unless we make it verbally clear that we're not, in the correct tone of voice, in the presence of witnesses, at the time of the rape taking place.

I too found the testimony chilling. In that particular part, it sounds like he's saying that he'd raped her, without him or anyone on the jury apparantly, understanding that that's what he was saying.

I don't know what happened on the night in question - I wasn't there. Tweedy's female friends seemed to think this girl didn't want to leave the house...

I'm no fan of Jack Tweedy at all!

A friend of mine was falsely accused of rape and ended up at trial. In fact his face ended up on the front pages of a handful of british newspapers. The girl had made it up to appease her boyfriend who'd wanted her to be a virgin... It ruined his life and half ripped his family apart.

"Mr Tweed had admitted having sex with the woman but said he was not aware his friend was in the room at the same time."

yeah, right.

htf do you have sex in front of someone and 'not notice'? weird.

Yes, weird.

Another weird thing. The woman's friend banged on the door and asked if her friend was OK. She couldn't open the door. There was no lock on the door. So someone was holding the door shut.

2I think generally men who claim that they've been falsely accused of rape are lying rapists. Needs to be said unfortunately.2

rather a daft statement

Ponders - what makes you think he is guilty as you are implying you think he has got away with it?

According to the defence, the woman decided to "cry rape" after her friends called her a "little slut".

So we're supposed to believe that she went through the trauma of a rape investigation and trial for that?

dittany - sadly some women do, and have been proved in courts of law on more than a handful of occasions, lie about being raped.

And where they do they ruin an innocent parties life. because mud sticks. Once someone is accused of rape, whether they did it or not, becomes irrelevant. Because people will always have that doubt - even where the woman has been found to be lying.

None of us were there the night this incident occured I believe. None of us, as far as I am aware, were in the court room and heard the evidence. The likes of the tabloid papers are not reliable sources of information IMO, especially in such cases. Therefore I have no idea which party was innocent and which party was guilty. I don't even wish to hazard a guess.

To automatically assume a man must be guilty of rape if he is accused of it - and this thread is full of people almost, but not quite, implying this - is just as bad as assuming the woman is lying.

We don't know what happened and it is very unlikely that we ever will.

I hope for both of their sakes that the rape never occured.

dittany Unfortunately people do tell lies which hurt others.

But being a scumbag does not mean he is should be a rapist also. These are two very very different things.

molesworth Ex-BFF was a policewoman. She spent one new year's day tending to two young girls who'd accused two lads of rape the night before. Eventually they admitted that they'd made it up because they'd broke their curfew... it must be hard to back down once the wheels are in motion.

skihorse, it does happen, yes, but I'm not willing to accept that 93.5% of rapes that are reported to the police are false claims (6.5% is the conviction rate).

There's something wrong in the criminal justice system and in our wider culture. Rapists are getting away with it.

In this case, I also hope that the rape never happened, for that young woman's sake. But going by the defendants' own testimonies as reported in the press, I'm doubtful.

honeybunmum - please have your message deleted by MN. Your DH could get into serious trouble from your post should he be identified in anyway by it. He could lose his job. I am very aware of this as I have also worked within prisons and know the rules.

dittany - I am very aware of the stats and that many rapists do get away with it. I am also aware that some women do lie about being raped. I have been privy to some very sensitive onformation on such situations in the past. However I still prefer not to lay blame here as I was not party to the full evidence laid out in court, nor was I present that evening.

If that is not rape under the law, it bloody well should be.

I'm disgusted.

But we don't know what came out in court. Always bear in mind that the tabloids print what they want to print. It may not be the entire story, some may not even be what happened at all.

BTW I don't know if he was guilty or not. I don't know if she was lying or not. I can't comment.

Just that I hate all the mud slinging (on BOTH sides) when noone on MN, AFAIK anyway, has even heard the court evidence, let alone be party to the actual incident.