A relevent article from the papers today:
Link
Doctor cleared of raping drunk teachers
The Times
16 December 2006
His action was 'immoral, not illegal'
Minister review law on 'date rape'
A doctor who had sex with two drunk teachers has been cleared of raping them.
Mark Rance, 31, who insisted that while his behaviour was immoral it was not illegal, slept with the first teacher at her home before secretly going into the neighbouring room and having sex with her flatmate.
A jury at Lewes Crown Court, in East Sussex, found Dr Rance not guilty of two rape charges after four hours of deliberation.
The news came as The Times learnt that the Government will bring forward plans next year to tackle the complex legal issues surrounding alleged rapes when women are drunk.
The number of acquittals of so-called “date” or “acquaintance” rapes has fuelled debate on whether such cases should come before the courts at all — or, when they do, the circumstances in which juries should convict.
Mike O’Brien, the Solicitor-General, is expected to recommend that juries be given clearer guidance on when women who are under the influence of drink can consent to sexual intercourse.
He is concerned that, with rape conviction rates at only 6 per cent of all alleged rapes reported, juries believe that women have consented to sex even when almost incapable through drink.
Dr Rance, who lost his job as a result of the charges and was forced to work in a café near his home in Worthing, West Sussex, refused to comment after his acquittal. The General Medical Council said, however, that it would investigate the details of the case to establish whether his conduct breached its guidelines.
Dr Rance was working at the McIndoe Surgical Centre in East Grinstead, West Sussex, and was due to sit his final examinations for membership of the Royal College of Surgeons when he met the women at a club in Brighton on September 10 last year.
One of the women, named only as Miss X, admitted that she had drunk about three bottles of wine that evening. She said that she had “kissed and cuddled” the doctor at the club, but insisted that although she was drunk and had a patchy recollection of the night’s events, she would not have consented to sex, adding: “That is not who I am.”
The pair returned to her flat, where she demanded a foot massage. She claimed that she fell asleep and then awoke to find him astride her and he said: “You’re going to claim I took advantage, aren’t you?” She demanded that he leave and thought that she heard the front door slam but Dr Rance had instead knocked on her flatmate’s bedroom door and asked for a “kiss and a cuddle”. The flatmate, Miss Y, 26, who had earlier returned home alone from the club, said that she awoke with a “pain in her groin”.
Giving evidence from behind a screen, she said: “I became hysterical, I was crying. He was raping me . . . I never flirted with him. I never touched him. I certainly did not give him the ‘come on’.”
Dr Rance said that both women gave him the “green light” and that he stopped having sex with them as soon as they asked. He said that his “priority” was to “respect their wishes”.
He said that he had knocked on the flatmate’s room “out of curiosity”. He claimed that Miss Y had also consented to sex before “having a change of heart” and pushed him off, telling him: “I can’t believe I had sex with you — I’ve got a boyfriend.”
He said that he felt “genuinely sorry” for her when she burst into tears because she felt guilty. He said: “They were excited and very much involved in the whole process.
“I cannot comment on why these two females have done this. I think they felt rather cheated because it was sex behind the other’s back. But it was not rape.”
After leaving their flat he went to sleep in his speedboat moored at the Brighton Marina. He spent the following day water skiing.
After his arrest he told police that sleeping with both women “may be immoral, but it was not illegal”.
In their review of rape laws, Ministers will also likely recommend a new legal definition of “capacity” to sexual intercourse.
Lord Campbell-Savours, the Labour peer who has lobbied the Government to give appeal court judges the power to name women who make false rape allegations, expressed doubt that any changes would improve conviction rates.
He said: “Wherever cases involved drink, and three quarters of rape cases involve drink or drugs, it is very hard to find a jury that is prepared to accept a woman’s word if drink is involved, irrespective of whether the woman is right.”
