'I'd never report it again,' says female lawyer who accused a chef of rape

Rarri

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Forgive me, the article is from the Daily Mail, but i felt it was thought provoking.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...er-accused-chef-rape-drunken-night-stand.html

The woman who accused a chef of rape after a drunken one-night-stand has admitted that if the same thing happened to her again she would not report it.
The 45-year-old, who cannot be named of legal reasons, said she felt 'let down' by the judicial system after Peter Bacon was acquitted last week.
A jury of seven women and four men took just 45 minutes to find Mr Bacon not guilty, after hearing three days of evidence.
The accuser told the News Of The World: 'My experience has taught me there is nothing to be gained by going through the criminal justice system. I couldn't go through what I have again.'
Winchester Crown Court had heard the woman claim that she must have been raped because she was too drunk to have consented to sex.
The jury heard she drunk up to six bottles of wine before the pair had sex in her flat in Canterbury, Kent, in February last year.
The woman, who described herself in court as a ‘recreational binge drinker’, said she found Mr Bacon lying in her bed one morning with no memory of what had happened.
She immediately accused the university student - who was her friend's housemate - of taking advantage of her, shouting that the law had been changed because of ‘f****** like you’.
Mr Bacon had insisted that he believed the woman had given him a ‘come-on’ and had flirted with him before they had sex.
In her interview, the woman said she would never have consented to sex with Mr Bacon because he was 'not her type', and she did not feel the need to 'chase after a 20-something man'.
She told the newspaper: 'I'm fussy about the men I date, I'm quite a snob. For example, I would never date a brick-layer.'
She said she did not blame herself for what happened and did not regret the drinking.

'I concede I was drinking far more than I should have been-far more than was good for me-and as a result I've since cut back on my drinking. But what happened wasn't my fault.'
She said she she cannot accept Mr Bacon's version of events.

'Our mutual friend said in court he hadn't noticed me giving Mr Bacon the come-on at all, and as far as he was concerned my interest in Mr Bacon was purely platonic.

'So I just cannot accept that in the space of 10 minutes, a person can go from being extremely platonic to engaging in sexual intercourse in a number of different positions with a stranger where neither party pays any heed to preventing a potential pregnancy.'
She claimed she would never willingly have sex in such a drunken state, and could not understand why Mr Bacon had not noticed how inebriated she was.
'My nickname is Baggy because, when I drink, my face drops and sags very obviously,' she told the newspaper.

The woman admitted that she knew her story was weak and that, were she defending such a case in court herself, she would be confident of getting the defendant acquitted. But she reported the incident to police out of 'a moral duty to other women'.

She believes the acquittal was due, in part, to the fact that seven of the 11 jurors were female.
'In date rape trials, women tend to side with men. That is their inherent nature. They judge other women more harshly. That is my experience.'
Despite her disappointment at the verdict, the woman admitted that she felt sorry for Mr Bacon, and did not condone the fact that he was named publicly as soon as he was charged.

She said she does not condone the vilification and vigilante attacks to which men accused of sexual violence are sometimes subjected.

The woman also fears the outcome of her case will put off other women from going to the police to report rapes.
'In certain circumstances drunken sex quite clearly isn't rape. But when people are incapable of making a decision then, in a civilised society, you have to be protected by the law.
'And, like it or not, young women do get themselves into this situation all the time because we have a binge culture. The implication of the judgement is that, if a woman is drunk and something happens to her, it's her own fault for getting into that state.'
 

JJ Cooper

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This is going to cause a shit-storm (the thread - not necessarily my post).

The jurors made their decision. They had more facts then we can possibly have by a media report.

There is no moral excuse for taking advantage of an inebriated person. But, morals are not necessarily the law.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but, it doesn't state anywhere that the laywer presented to hosiptal the following morning. I fully understand that not all women would be comfortable doing so, but, she took an early stand by the looks of it and knows the law and what victims go through. She obviously knew what to do when reporting it to the authorities as well as being examined.

Without the actual transcript and her statements to make me say otherwise, it appears as she has made a 'pissed-regrettable-decision' and wanted to reclaim some sort of dignity - to no avail.

JJ
 
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James81

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Winchester Crown Court had heard the woman claim that she must have been raped because she was too drunk to have consented to sex.
The jury heard she drunk up to six bottles of wine before the pair had sex in her flat in Canterbury, Kent, in February last year.

I'm having a hard time feeling sorry for her. I really am.

Here's your clue, lady: If you can't REMEMBER what the fuck happened, then how can you be so sure it was rape?

People like this just make it harder for the women who have LEGIT rape cases.
 

Perks

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I guess what would be quite helpful to know is how much Mr. Bacon had had to drink. If he was also drunk, I think that makes a difference. If we cannot hold this lawyer accountable for her yeas and nays because she was bombed, how is it that we would expect Mr. Bacon to act as he would soberly? Of course, that's also assuming Mr. Bacon doesn't go around assaulting people on teetotalling Wednesday afternoons.

And regardless of what she thinks, this is not a case of a woman judging another woman more harshly. I've seen more than one friend with morning after remorse, both for the binge and the naked semi-surprise in the bed. It needs to be examined for the problem it is, which is a serious and a sad one, not lumped in with sexual assaults.
 

caromora

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Here's your clue, lady: If you can't REMEMBER what the fuck happened, then how can you be so sure it was rape?

If she was that smashed, I'm guessing her judgment was too impaired for her to give rational consent.

ETA: I agree with this--

I guess what would be quite helpful to know is how much Mr. Bacon had had to drink. If he was also drunk, I think that makes a difference.
 

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Yeah, a guy who sits and waits to catch the drunkest girl at a party for a no-contest roll, is a predator. A fellow partier who is as wobbly as everyone else is a player in a dangerous game that's very much a social blight.

It really is a separate problem and it does not allow for the correct attention if we try to label it rape.
 

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Well, to me it's the same thing as getting so drunk that I fall asleep in the gutter, and somebody takes the money out of my wallet then claims I gave him the money; I was just too drunk to remember.

I have no doubt the young man is guilty; I'm sure he knew she was too drunk to consent, but there's a point in which we have to take some kind of personal responsibility. Her condition was her own making, thus, so was the ambiguity.

I don't get drunk and fall in the gutter and expect my money to be there in the morning.
 

James81

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If she was that smashed, I'm guessing her judgment was too impaired for her to give rational consent.

The way I see it is this...I know my limits when I drink. I've NEVER EVER been in a position where I was too drunk to remember what happened to me (and I've been pretty drunk before). Everytime I reach my limit, I ....surprise surprise...STOP DRINKING.

I have a hard time feeling sorry for ANYONE (male or female) that gets too drunk to remember what happened to them and then have something bad happen to them while they were that drunk.
 

JJ Cooper

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We have a big problem with binge drinking here at the moment. Not that it's new, just appearing more in the news.

I've just seen a popular Aussie Swim star being given a suspended jail sentence for assaulting someone. He admitted he had/has a problem with the binge. We've been bombarded in the news with people getting 'glassed' in nightclubs and 'king-hit'. But, the news does not cover this sort of thing all that much (ie waking up with a stranger).

To be honest, I've woken up next to a few strangers (all female before you ask). I never considered one of them taking advantage of me (although I'm sure they did). I've no idea what it's like from the female perseptive (love to hear your tales so I'm prepared for my daughter's stories).

So, where is the line? Both pisssed - and consent to sex. One wakes up and thinks 'regret' and makes a complaint. The other would probably be male (just my opinion of what would occur more times than not).

JJ
 
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Perks

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I think it's sexist to expect rational behavior from one sex while giving a pass to the other when both are intoxicated.

I don't find that it is in any way protective of women not to address this as a separate issue from sexual assault. In fact, I think it's very detrimental.
 

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I agree with James81. If this guy did actually take advantage of her in her drunken state, she cannot say "this is what happened," then a bad guy walks to assault another woman. Or, if it was consensual and she just can't recall it, an innocent man does not deserve to have his life ruined.

Granted, my sympathies have changed with being involved in cases of women who got tanked, had sex, then cried rape the next morning. Every one later (there were three) either admitted the sex had been consensual or obvious from court martial testimony the sex was consensual.

My point: my sympathies haven't changed that much. I still assume a rape allegation is true, but I withhold judgment until all the facts are in. I agree with JJ Cooper about that we probably don't have all the facts.
 

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IMHO, Perks has the best points so far about this issue, which is probably a bigger issue throughout the world than we realize. There's no mention of how much liquor Bacon had. They may have both been too drunk, and this is a different issue than rape. She also mentions a guy who waits for the drunkest gal at the party to take home is a predator. Excellent.
 

rhymegirl

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Six bottles of wine? I'd probably be out cold.
 

James81

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And let's not just toss away this little nugget of a fact:

said she found Mr Bacon lying in her bed one morning with no memory of what had happened.

If his actions were "predatory," then why the hell was he still in bed with her (read: at the scene of the "crime") when she woke up?

You would think that someone who was being "predatory" or had intentions on "raping" her, would've gotten the hell out of there the moment he was finished doing the deed, not lay in bed with her the rest of the night.
 

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The other article indicated that it was five or six bottles shared between three people. I think six bottles of wine would probably kill most people.
 

Alpha Echo

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I've no idea what it's like from the female perseptive (love to hear your tales so I'm prepared for my daughter's stories).

So, where is the line? Both pisssed - and consent to sex. One wakes up and thinks 'regret' and makes a complaint. The other would probably be male (just my opinion of what would occur more times than not).

JJ

I'll be honest - there was a time in college that some guy friends of mine were throwing a party. I got smashed and woke up regretting who I was laying beside (not because of what he looked like, but just because he was a friend, and sober, I would have had no intentions of sleeping with him) and knowing what we had done the night before. I remembered...barely. It was all foggy like a dream. That scared the sh*t out of me - the fact that I was that drunk, and the fact of what I'd done. Never got that drunk again, and I never made the same mistake.

Man...never lived that one down either. His roommates never let me forget it, much as I wanted to. Remarkably, however, I somehow remained friends with the guy.
 

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The other article indicated that it was five or six bottles shared between three people. I think six bottles of wine would probably kill most people.

Ah, that makes more sense. Still a lot of wine, but that makes more sense.
 

JJ Cooper

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I think it's sexist to expect rational behavior from one sex while giving a pass to the other when both are intoxicated.

I don't find that it is in any way protective of women not to address this as a separate issue from sexual assault. In fact, I think it's very detrimental.

Agreed. Rational behaviour should not be judged on sex.

I just keep thinking that in this situation the male probably thinks he's 'scored' and the female 'regrets her decision'. So, what now that both (being as equally as we can get it to being pissed) agreed at the time?

JJ
 

James81

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The other article indicated that it was five or six bottles shared between three people. I think six bottles of wine would probably kill most people.

Is wine really that potent though? (this is a separate question from the story at hand...I'm just curious)

I never really saw wine as much more than glorified grape juice. lol
 

Diana Hignutt

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Binge drinking will put you into all sorts of bad situations.
 

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Is wine really that potent though? (this is a separate question from the story at hand...I'm just curious)

I never really saw wine as much more than glorified grape juice. lol
Well, drink six bottles and send me a postcard from hell, James.
 

James81

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Well, drink six bottles and send me a postcard from hell, James.

:roll:

No way. I've drank an entire bottle of wine before and all it's ever done to me is given me the worst headache ever. I can't imagine the headache I'd have after 6 bottles.