by Elm Park Pasty »
07 Nov 2014 16:11
The thing about consent is that for guilt to be proved, I think it has be shown that the person didn't have consent, or at least could not prove they had the basis to reasonably think they had consent. I would presume (and I haven't read everything I will admit) the jury decided, given whatever happened between them before they entered the hotel, that McDonald had reasonable cause to believe he had consent, Or they may have decided that the prosecution had not been able to prove that that McDonald had no cause to believe the sex was not consensual. Either way he is not guilty. Then we come round to Mr Evans. Here it seems the jury decided that as Evans had not been involved with whatever intimate aspects had taken place before they had intercourse, there was no reason to think that Evans had any right to believe that the girl had consented to sexual intercourse. If someone is flat out drunk on the bed, I don't think you are ever going to be able to persuade someone that consent was provided.
The 'there but for the grace of god' argument does not apply here. If you hooked up with a girl in a club and you both got drunk and had sex, the charge of rape would have to pass the test that you did not have a reasonable expectation that consent was given. The circumstances of everything that occurred would be taken into account. Where you are likely to find yourself in trouble is if she is blind drunk and you aren't, and you engage in intercourse. You would then obviously be in a position of taking advantage (whatever she may say at the time, and irrespective of you being a scumbag), in which case you should have no complaint if you find yourself in hot water. And let's not forget in this case, it wasn't about what you and she did, it was about the fact that one of your mates let himself into the room and had sex with her after you did.
I really can't see much difference in knowingly taking advantage of someone who is drunk, and slipping someone a rohypnol, pretty much the same result.