Representing the family of Rebecca Middleton, Ms. Booth, wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, said the fact that the courts believed one of the accused when he testified that the Belleville, Ont., virgin had consented to have sex with him only 30 minutes after they had met, highlights the country's lenient stand on sexual-assault cases.The accused in this case made a deal that absolved himself and pinned the blame on another man. He claims his sperm, identified by DNA testing and found all over the victim... was from consensual sex.
"She is assaulted, she is threatened with a knife, she is restrained, she is sodomized and she is raped."
"All of that and we're asked to believe it was consensual," she told Chief Justice Richard Ground.
And the courts in Bermuda bought it hook, line and sinker.
“This case is so fundamental, not only for Becky but for Bermudian women,” she said.And the flip side of the story...
Statistics from the Bermuda Women's Resource Centre show that of the 204 sexual assaults reported to Bermudian police from 2000 to 2004, only 16 (or 8 per cent) have resulted in a conviction in Supreme Court.
“The pulse of public opinion in this country already has my client convicted of murder,” he said. Mr. Mundy has served his five-year sentence for being an accessory in Ms. Middleton's case.A lovely man... who wouldn't believe him?
He is serving the remainder of a 16-year sentence for robbery, after which he will likely be deported to his native Jamaica.
Another place I'll never be vacationing.
Technorati Tags: Bermuda, homicide, corruption
