Girl should be glad she was raped - 25th May 2007 8:03pm
A barrister provoked outrage yesterday by claiming that the victim of an alleged gang rape was so fat she would have been 'glad of the attention'.
Sheilagh Davies, defending one of three boys accused of raping two girls, said the 16-year-old girl had 'slimmed down a lot' since the alleged attack.
She told Inner London Crown Court: 'She was 12st 6lb – not quite the swan she may turn into. She may well have been glad of the attention.
It is all too unrealistic that sexual encounters between boys and girls who have never met before must be against the girls' will. They are learning to be sexually attractive, perhaps before their time.
'It is all about, "Let's try it, let's get on with it".'
The boys, who were all 13 at the time of the alleged attack, are accused of stealing the girls' mobile phones on a bus and raping them repeatedly in a park.
The 16-year-old victim said she was made to perform a 'disgusting' sex act and her friend, also 16, claimed she was forced to strip and lie face down while she was raped in a park in Churchdown, Bromley, on November 23 last year.
The defendants, all from Catford, South- East London, allegedly told the girls they would be killed if they called police.
All three were arrested within a few days of the attacks but claimed that either nothing had happened or the girls had consented to sex. Two defendants have since turned 14.
The three deny various charges of robbery, rape, attempted rape and sexual assault.
The trial continues.
Sheilagh Davies, defending one of three boys accused of raping two girls, said the 16-year-old girl had 'slimmed down a lot' since the alleged attack.
She told Inner London Crown Court: 'She was 12st 6lb – not quite the swan she may turn into. She may well have been glad of the attention.
It is all too unrealistic that sexual encounters between boys and girls who have never met before must be against the girls' will. They are learning to be sexually attractive, perhaps before their time.
'It is all about, "Let's try it, let's get on with it".'
The boys, who were all 13 at the time of the alleged attack, are accused of stealing the girls' mobile phones on a bus and raping them repeatedly in a park.
The 16-year-old victim said she was made to perform a 'disgusting' sex act and her friend, also 16, claimed she was forced to strip and lie face down while she was raped in a park in Churchdown, Bromley, on November 23 last year.
The defendants, all from Catford, South- East London, allegedly told the girls they would be killed if they called police.
All three were arrested within a few days of the attacks but claimed that either nothing had happened or the girls had consented to sex. Two defendants have since turned 14.
The three deny various charges of robbery, rape, attempted rape and sexual assault.
The trial continues.
"surprise sex" 