Court Clears Attempted Rapist Because His Victim was Trans

Posted by Kevin Farrell on Jul 5, 2012 in Oh Hell No! | 22 comments

A Swedish court has cleared an attempted rapist of rape charges, not because he didn’t violently sexually assault his victim, but because his victim was a transgender woman.

When the 61-year-old man had tried to commit the rape in Örebro, he had no idea that the intended victim was actually a man in women’s clothes, who had been taking hormonal treatment to reach the “right” identity, wrote the paper.

After following the woman for some time, the would-be rapist was “brutally violent” in the “attempted rape”, tearing off the victim’s pants and grabbing at the victim’s crotch, according to the paper.

However, the court has ruled that the 61-year-old had intended to rape a woman, as he had been following her before the attack, making a conscious decision to rape her specifically. The man also referred to his victim as “she” throughout the court case.

As this woman” was actually a man, his intentions were impossible to commit as the rape could never be completed.

“We believe that he wanted to rape this woman in particular. But as she turned out to be a man, the crime never was actually committed,” said Sjöstedt, adding that the case against rape was “invalid”.

What? Are the Swedish somehow unfamiliar with the phrase, “there’s more than one way to rape a cat?” One need not possess a vagina to be raped.

In a tiny speckle of good news, the attempted rapist was at least convicted of assault, and will spend the next four years of his life in prison. A judge also ordered the attacker to pay his victim 15,000 kronor ($2,161) in damages.

Thoughts?

(via thelocal.se)

http://www.facebook.com/clintpearson Clint Pearson

Yes there’s more than one way to “rape a cat” as you’ve put it, but, the decision is logical – he was intending to rape a woman and obviously it didn’t happen because he discovered that it was in fact a man; I’m not saying male rape doesn’t happen (because I know it does), but in this case all that actually happened was violent assault with intent to rape.

If they had an “intended sexual assault” charge then I have no doubt that would have been brought against him, but, given he didn’t *actually* commit rape he can’t very well be charged with it.
http://twitter.com/colibri_moko Petit Colibri

It should’ve been attempted rape, since that was his intention
http://www.facebook.com/BobTheDoctor Blake A Wicker

It was still intended rape. They are thinking about this all wrong, yes he didn’t rape the trans fella, but what if that had been a girl? Right now that creepy fucked up perve would be facing a full on ‘rape’ charge, I think that has some weight in the case because he was out there looking to rape someone, and that shit can’t be ignored. It just can’t.

http://www.facebook.com/tobias.mckenzie.7 Tobias McKenzie

Transwoman = woman. Not “fella”. She IS a girl.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=37609645 Rosie Berkman

Sexual assault is not just about unwanted vaginal penetration, or even necessarily penetration at all. The fact that she was violently attacked, had her pants ripped off and her genitalia groped without her consent means that this was sexual assault. This was also clearly a premeditated crime. The perpetrator may not have gotten his dick in her but that does not mean it was not sexual assault and should not be treated as though it was a full crime rather than an intended one.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000000370527 Charles Boykin

I HATE THIS SITE! ALL THE THE POP UP ADS IS DISGUSTING I’M UNFRIENDING YOU FROM FACEBOOK! I AM SICK OF IT!

igottasayL0L

…But how do you REALLY feel?

Evelyn Drolet

You people do realize that trans women ARE women right? She isn’t a “fella” she isn’t a man and she definitely doesn’t deserve to see her rapist get off so easily. She isn’t half a person, she isn’t half man half women, she is a girl. He attempted to rape a girl, and he needs to go to prison for it. It’s that damned simple. Stop acting like trans women are just men in dresses because it’s really damned insulting.
http://www.facebook.com/stepford Stephen Frost

He groped and assaulted her and then he stopped of his own accord, as he had changed his mind about wanting to rape her. Does that mean he ever attempted an actual rape? I’d say he probably planned and intended to, but never actually attempted the rape itself. He is guilty of sexual assault, but not actual rape. The genitals of the victim is why he changed his mind, but probably not the reason for the judgement. Just trying to work this out within legal definitions. It’s unclear to whom the quote “As this woman was actually a man, his intentions were impossible to commit as the rape could never be completed” is attributed to. Whoever said that is, of course, an idiot. Men, MTF people and FTM people can be raped too, obviously. In all honesty, I think I would have made a similar judgement. Though not just assault, but SEXUAL assault. The sentence seems about right too, I think.
http://www.facebook.com/cassie.dooley Cassie Dooley

In a twisted sort of way, this makes some sense. If the attacker had known his would-be victim was not biologically female, he would not have felt the desire to attack her. In a sense, he intended to rape someone else, someone who does not exist: a biologically female version of his victim. He DID assault her, so it’s good that they at least convicted him on that charge. But I actually see the logic of dismissing the charge for attempted rape.

http://www.facebook.com/elfinragdoll Heather Halloran

“If the attacker had known his would-be victim was not biologically female, he would not have felt the desire to attack her.” You’re getting into some really unfortunate slut-shaming, victim-blaming territory here. I sincerely doubt that that was your intention, but that phrase basically means that if a woman is assaulted, well goshdarnit, she just shouldn’t have been female and gone and stirred him up.

http://www.facebook.com/elfinragdoll Heather Halloran

Guys. ~Guys~. What the hell is up with some of you saying “well, he was actually a man, so…” No. No she wasn’t actually a man. She is a woman. Not a man dressed as a woman. Not a man “pretending” to be a woman. The opinions about the ruling can go a lot of different ways, but this does not change the fact that the victim is STILL A WOMAN. Seriously. Y’all should know better. Quit it.

Kevin Webb

As badly written as the article was, UB didn’t say “…he was actually a man, so…” they were quoting the story from another media source.

They just forgot to tell you what media source in the inset.

http://www.facebook.com/elfinragdoll Heather Halloran

The UB article didn’t say that, but a few commenting on this post have referred to the victim as a “fella” or “actually a man”.

http://profile.yahoo.com/FSU4WJURHYUKJIA2CCP7GV4E5E Ghost

While I agree that the Judge was wrong, let’s keep something in
mind here: What happened is that the attacker touched the crotch of the
victim, then her boyfriend came to her aid.

So before you jump to conclusions and judge Sweden as a country try
to name a single other country in the world that would even consider
touching someone’s crotch “rape”, no matter which gender the victim may
have.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=611161977 Kisaki Anrui

*ex* boyfriend but still. I think this is an important point to bring up: It was not an attack in a back alley where this guy tried to rape her, saw she had the “wrong” anatomy and then walked away. He was interrupted and stopped by someone coming to her aid. The question in this case is how would an interrupted intended rape be prosecuted if the victim’s biology had not been a part of the equation.

michaelandfred

As unsatisfying as it may seem, I think they ruled correctly. “Attempted” anything isn’t the same as actually doing it. If you try to rob a bank you don’t get the same time as if you actually robbed it, and murder and attempted murder also hold different charges. I would have gone with sexual assault because that is in fact what happened, but I’ve no clue as to what kinds of charges the Swedes have. Maybe they only have assault and rape.

If she had totally transitioned she probably would have been raped. As it stood, he couldn’t do what he set out to do just on dumb luck. But that’s how it was. She got lucky as “far” as that goes. I’m pretty sure she’s far happier that he also only managed an assault than an actual rape.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=142100011 Jane Benjihana Kelly

UB is not giving the terrible ordeal this girl endured the gravity it deserves. “more than one way to rape a cat?” Kevin, I don’t believe a violation like rape or attempted rape should be treated so flippantly. The Picard facepalm too. Be better than memes and rape jokes.

http://www.facebook.com/odinn.celusta Odinn Celusta

I occasionally see something on UB that goes too far into edgy or callous humor, but I expect the editors to keep doing it, because its extremely effective at getting readership up. As long as UB itself is a little bit offensive, it’s tough to forget about so you keep checking in for rainbow news, if only to keep your eye on these wily kids. lol

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000971710774 Harriet O’Neill

So…he had intended to rape her and had been following her showing pre-meditation, he had ripped off her clothes in a violent sexual assault and yet he didn’t rape her…
I’m so confused.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Felix-Ophaso/1477470448 Felix Ophaso

yep
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_QER4M5O3SBNW3N7KHBSDOMYYRU Catharine

Um you do realize that you can still rape a man, right? Whoa! Stupidity, I see, is not confined to judges in America. Despite that, he WAS raping a woman.

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