"of Course It Wasn't Rape" . . . . .

[Canary42]

. . . . rules the male judge (nudge nudge).

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-46903951

[douglas9401]

The standard reply is that you don't have access to all the evidence that the court had and therefore are not in a position to judge, as it were.

A regular may or may not confirm this depending on which way the wind's blowing.

[naomi24]

//The woman civilian, in her 20s, was invited to the barracks in Shearwater after meeting a British sailor on the dating app Tinder …..She said she felt "threatened" and "scared" after finding a naked man in a room full of cheering hockey players…..Later that night, she woke up face down and naked in a sailor's bed to find at least three men performing sex acts on her,//

Why didn’t she leave when she felt ‘threatened and scared’. How come she ended up in bed and asleep?

Right ruling. Well done that judge.

[Rockrose]

Slightly concerning ok so she said she was going to sleep with one but to wake up and find 3 performing sex acts on her is wrong. Had she been asleep consent is dubious.
But I am sure the judge must have his reasoning

[spathiphyllum]

“ A written decision outlining Justice Patrick Duncan's reasons for clearing Mr Smalley will be released at a later date, a spokeswoman for the Nova Scotia Judiciary in Halifax said.“

We will wait and see.

[spathiphyllum]

Sounds like rape to me though

[Old_Geezer]

The reasoning is probably disbelief that she didn't know the result/intent of going to the barracks and sleeping with a load of men. Difficult to know if consent was there at the time or not. Amazingly naive if it wasn't. Nasty situation to judge on.

[naomi24]

Curious that where our friends from the east are concerned, the news source for some ABers is more important than the crime. On the other hand, we have another case of alleged sexual assault but this time carried out by a Brit who has been cleared … but appears to remain under suspicion on AB.

https://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/News/Question1642101.html

Funny old world.

[naomi24]

^Sorry wrong thread.

[Sqad]

"Later that night, she woke up face down and naked in a sailor's bed to find at least three men performing sex acts on her, the court heard."

What sex acts? Intercourse?

I am sure that this sort of thing goes on in a sex charged environment more commonly than we realise.
It probably....probably was rape.....but the judge ruled correctly.

[Deskdiary]

Why have you put 'male' in italics?

What does the judges sex have to do with anything?

Are you suggesting rape cases should only ever be in front of women judges?

[jim360]

It can be hard enough to prove rape cases without requiring that the woman follow a specific course of action throughout in order to ensure any possible successful prosecution.

// Why didn’t she leave when she felt ‘threatened and scared’? //

Could have been scared in such a way that she was effectively rooted to the spot -- a sort of rabbit-in-headlights reaction. It's not exactly unheard of.

[naomi24]

Haaaa! Yes, Jim. And then she climbed in bed and went to sleep. Come off it!

[jim360]

All I'm saying is that, firstly, you need to be in the situation yourself to determine exactly how you'd have responded, and secondly that there's no obligation for an alleged victim to act rationally in order for it to be a criminal offence.

Finally, it's worth noting that consent can carry on up to the moment that any participant withdraws it, so how things started doesn't have a bearing on whether a crime was committed. If you choose to have sex with one person, but then three others join in and you didn't want them to, then at that point it becomes rape.

[naomi24]

I can’t see why anyone has a problem with this verdict. Her story, to me, a woman, doesn’t gel. I know how I would behave in that situation – and it wouldn’t include climbing into bed. It’s not unknown for women to lie - and I feel very sorry for men who find themselves on the receiving end.

[jim360]

No, it is not unknown. Perhaps it's the right verdict in this individual case -- but nevertheless, one would, I think, be hard-pressed to believe that the total number of successful prosecutions for rape is even remotely comparable to the total number of actual rapes.

[naomi24]

I don't know how many go unreported.

[andy-hughes]

Canary - Nowhere in th report has the judge stated, or implied, that rape did not take place.

As I am sure you know, for an offender to be convicted, the judge and / or jury must be satisfied 'beyond reasonable doubt' that the offence took place.

Clearly that is the case here - there was insufficient evidence to convict, so no conviction.

It matters not what you, or I, or the judge, or anyone else beleives, it comes down to what can be proved with evidence in court, and those three vital words - beyond reasonable doubt.

[naomi24]

//there was insufficient evidence to convict //

Maybe because she was lying.....

Nevertheless, mud sticks to the accused.

[jim360]

Insufficient evidence that she's lying, either. A "gut feeling", based on whatever intuition you may claim, isn't good enough to be so libellous about the complainant.

[naomi24]

Jim, Libellous about the complainant? How dramatic! Don't be ridiculous!