Man cleared of rape because he was too drunk to realise which bed he was in.

[ElephantsAndMiasmas]

Sorry DM but here.

This guy's girlfriend refused sex, he stumbled into another room "by accident" and started having sex with the woman in the bed there.

He was cleared of rape.

There is so much wrong with this that I don't know where to start. I imagine he's been cleared because he didn't intend (apparently) to commit a crime. But the fact is that neither woman had consented to sex with him, so whoever he decided to penetrate it would have been rape. He seems to have been cleared on the grounds that if he had walked back into his (non-consenting) girlfriend's room and penetrated her without further ado, that would not have been rape. It obviously would have been.

:( scared and all at once.

I sort of imagined it was a scummy b&b with normal doors, that the woman had just forgotten to lock.

Wishingchair and Privategodfrey - it's understandable that you can't believe that it is possible for a man to walk free after having committed a rape like this.

But er, it's normal. 94% of reported rapes do not end in a conviction. Since most police figures estimate false rape allegations at being at about 4% is, that means that 90% of reported rapists go free.

It's very hard to get your head round, to know that we can be raped at any time by any man, and there is only a tiny chance that we will get justice for it. But that is the case.

Denial is so much easier isn't it?

Oh good point about having the key from earlier and about it being a scummy b&b with normal doors. Googled the hotel name and sounds like it.

That is very sad HerBeX. I can't believe that a man can enter a hotel room, rape an unsuspecting sleeping woman and then walk free by claiming he was too drunk to notice it was the wrong woman. And we stand in judgement of the barbaric laws of other countries. We aren't much better then.

Elephants

Just Googled the place and it's a pub and 'hotel' so you could be right inasmuch as having to remember to lock your door.

The article also says he went to another room for a shower so I assume the rooms aren't en-suite?

HerBex oh don't get me wrong - I'm disgusted but not surprised this has happened. I was more surprised he got off scot free for stealing her phone as property seems to be held in higher esteem by the courts than people IMO.

Its very odd how little coverage this is getting - don't get me wrong, I get that rape doesn't get great coverage, but this is a pretty odd story - that by claiming "But your honour, I was pissed out of my nut" you can therefore be exonerated of crime.

I wonder if that works for drunk driving.

Even if it's not quite the right channel, I wanted to do something, so I have emailled the Attorney General ([email protected]) to ask for a re-examination of the case.

the DM often picks up stories like this first, it might well be in the Times and Torygraph in the next few days.

I think the title of the article is very deceiving. I can't say for sure but i think this case is more about the prosecution not being able to prove their case correctly more than him being aqquited because he was to drunk.

But he said he had sex with a sleeping woman. That is rape, even if it had been his girlfriend. He admitted it! We'll see what develops in the next few days....

Yes he admitted it but he said that he didn't intend to do it and as far as I am aware the prosecution have to prove intent. Not 100% I am not a lawyer but that is all I can think of.

Maybe there is a lawyer around that could shed more light on this.

I know, omg, it isn't that clear. He is also supposed to show what steps he took to gain consent, but that isn't mentioned either.

I am reminded of the "eggshell skull" rule whereby if you commit an assault, say pushing someone over, that would normally only lead to minor injury if at all, you can be done for murder if the person happens to have a condition that means it kills them. You can be committed of the more serious crime of assulting a police officer even if they are in plain clothes.

The logic does not seem to follow through in this case does it?

Surely the only way you can "not intend to rape" someone is by not raping them?

If he really had thought it was his girlfriend then knowing that she had already said no she didn't want to have sex with him the only difference in the scenario is that rather than raping a stranger he would have raped his girlfriend.

So the inference is that the jury were somehow unaware that raping your girlfriend is rape (which the judge should have clearly stated as this has been illegal for a fair few years) and thought that if you rape someone who you think is your girlfriend that is OK.

You cannot prosecute someone of a crime they haven't committed. He didn't rape his girlfriend so they can't use that as the prosecution and the jury quite rightly can't take that into consideration.

Here's what the law says Rape & Consent

No, but the point is that having sex with a sleeping woman is rape, so his defence of "I thought it was my girlfriend" holds no water.

Why would intent matter?

He walked into a room in which there was a sleeping woman.

Without even checking to see who it was, he had sex with her - that is not sex, that is rape.

If he had walked into a room and stabbed someone could the defense argue that he had not intended to stab anyone so he should not be done for murder? That he was so drunk that he did not know what he was doing?

Intent is different in different crimes like if Someone stole property from someone but did not intend to deprive the person of their property they would not be prosecuted unless intent could be proved. That is my understanding. I am not saying that he didn't do it and that he shouldn't be prosecuted I am simply saying that is the way I think it works and if anyone has a more informed definition I would be glad to listen.

Yes. Or gone into the wrong room and picked up a stranger's laptop and taken it with him cause he was so drunk that he did not know what he was doing.

Can you imagine anyone getting away with that?