'Gang-raped girl was glad of the attention,' says barrister (UK)

[deadparrot]

A teenage girl who claims she was gang-raped by three 13-year-old boys would have been "glad of the attention", a woman barrister said.

The 16-year-old and a friend have told how the boys mugged them and then raped them repeatedly in a park while filming the ordeal on a mobile phone.

But Sheilagh Davies, defending the youngest of the three accused, said the girls had consented to sex "maybe to gain attention, maybe to gain affection".

The barrister told the jury that "things are not the way they used to be" and that girls' clothes put pressure on them to be sexually attractive "perhaps before their time".

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23396785-details/'Gang-raped+girl+was+glad+of+the+attention,'+says+barrister/article.do

[Rydz777]

1. "A Clockwork Orange" was considered fantasy when it was

written by Anthony Burgess in 1962. It was prophetic.

[live love laugh]

7. I am not familiar with the story. What was it about? How does it relate

to this current story? (I don't expect a blow by blow but a few sentences to shed some light on the background would be appreciated.)

[REP]

9. Read The Book; A Few Sentences Won't Help You

Nor will the movie, for that matter; as much as like a lot of Kubrick's work, his version of the book was all style and little substance.

[H2O Man]

17. Interesting.

I have never read the book. I remember the movie, and thought it was outstanding, though very disturbing. I think of it sometimes when I read about some of the crimes around here .... a few years ago, a group of young men beat a guy to death for fun, without conscience.(And, from the description, this crime sounds like it was straight out of the movie, as well.)

Now you have me interested in locating the book. That's one of the best things about DU. Thanks.

[The Magistrate]

27. A Marvelous Book, Sir

It will well repay the effort of finding a copy. It reads like a shot, and is incomparably more gritty than the movie was....

[BlooInBloo]

2. Wow - the UK still allows that defense? At least we're not last in *everything*.

[Kagemusha]

3. Apparently if it's advanced by a female attorney, yes.

Apparently.

[Posteritatis]

4. On the bright side

I think that barrister has managed not only to sink her clients, but her own career, with that one.

Oh dear, how will the world cope...

[BlooInBloo]

6. Only if she loses.

[Posteritatis]

8. If that's her best defense, it'd be hard for her not to (n/t)

[BlooInBloo]

10. Let's hope.

[DKRC]

5. What a sick thing to say about a child

:grr:

[heidler1]

12. The Bonobos do it consensually at all ages and ways.

If you can except that we humans are animals that have a comparatively high interest in affection and sex it is easier to accept the truth. I doubt that you can train people away from their survival instincts.

[girl gone mad]

14. Not with humiliation.

There is no comparison.

Bonobos also engage in incest, something which is frowned upon in every human culture. Our instincts are clearly not shared. Evolution works.

[heidler1]

24. Yes it is frowned on, but it happens a lot anyway.

[lukasahero]

20. If it's "consentual", it's not rape

Not sure what your point is here but it sounds to me like you are comparing group sex with gang rape. There is one distinct and clear difference - rape is without consent.

[heidler1]

25. The consensual part is what the Barrister was arguing about.

[DKRC]

22. If you can except that as humans

we have a right to say No then you'll understand that it's not group sex that outrages me, it's forced sex and blame the victim mentality that outrages me with what this barrister said. This treatment is one of the reasons so many rapes go unreported and the rapist is free to go on to rape other women.

BTW - Thanks for the Bonobo reference. I had no idea what they were until I hit Google. Learned something new this morning.

[heidler1]

26. IMO What the courts job is: Find out who's lying. Reference "To Kill A Mockingbird."

Yes, boys will lie to get out of trouble. Yes, Girls lie to get their parents off their back and other reasons. Yes, both boys and girls have trouble saying no to sexual pressure.

[johnaries]

11. Yeah, I'll bet the jury buys that one.

:eyes:

[LeftishBrit]

13. That is disgusting!!!!!!!

There was a lot of outrage here in the 70s and 80s over lawyers and judges - mostly elderly and male - who implied that rape victims 'bring it on themselves' or even enjoy it. One judge claimed that a victim had shown 'contributory negligence' by dressing inappropriately. I had thought that no one would dare to be so blatant about it now, but apparently I was wrong. Shows that women can also be male chauvinist oink-oink pigs when they choose.

[koopie57]

15. Maybe it is Ms Davies

who fantasises about that?

[Solly Mack]

16. I'll refrain

but I will say that Sheilagh Davies is scum

[rasputin1952]

19. I agree...I also shall abstain from commenting....

and this "barrister" is insane.

[gollygee]

18. That's sick

She thinks they were glad to get the attention of being raped? Sick sick sick.

[Bucky]

21. I hate to say this, but...

Arguments like this are the price we pay in Western Civ for having a court system that recognizes the rights of the accused to mount a vigorous defense. The argument on the face of it is repulsive, of course but also more or less inevitable. The camera phone video should provide amble evidence of the reality of the victims' "consent" (not that it should matter since the victims were under the age of consent anyway).

The punks, or "Chavs" as they're called in England, will get convicted. I just hope they somehow get reformed before they get out. Sex offenders, by and large, do not usually give up their ways just because they get punished.
.

[Bluerthanblue]

23. it's the same defense many child molesters have been using for

generations.

That it's being used in court doesn't surprise me- That it hasn't been used before this does. Kudo's to the girls for having the guts to take this to court- And i hope they prevail.