Rape victim backs judge who said drunk women risk attack
A TEENAGE rape victim has defended a female judge who sparked controversy by saying drunken women put themselves in danger of sex attacks.
Megan Clark was raped after drinking beer and vodka on a night out.
This month, during Ms Clark’s attacker’s trial, Judge Lindsey Kushner said women should be aware that potential attackers “gravitate towards girls who have been drinking”.
Yesterday Ms Clark, 19, waived her anonymity to tell the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire TV show she took the judge’s comments in a “positive way”.
She said: “I think she was absolutely right in what she said but it was taken out of context. She put the blame massively on rapists, not the victims. She just simply said to be careful, which is smart advice. You need to be careful but she wasn’t at all victim-blaming.”
Asked about the judge’s view that women are less likely to report a rape when drunk, Ms Clark said: “That’s definitely true. It’s not the way it should be but that is the harsh reality – that’s how things are.”
Ricardo Rodrigues-Fortes-Gomes, also 19, was found guilty of two rape charges over the 2016 attack in Manchester and jailed for six years at the city’s crown court.
Judge Kushner said at the sentencing: “Girls are perfectly entitled to drink themselves into the ground but should be aware people who are potential defendants to rape gravitate towards girls who have been drinking.
“It shouldn’t be like that but it does happen.” Her comments – at the end of her final trial before retiring – prompted a storm of criticism.
Police and crime commissioner Dame Vera Baird said her words would deter victims from coming forward.
Director of Public Prosecutions Alison Saunders hit out at “views expressed that lean in favour of the victim-blaming culture”.
Ms Clark said: “I am happy to talk about it because somebody needs to. It has been really difficult.
“I had to pretty much put my life on hold for a while. I didn’t deal with it so well for a while. I stopped going out so much, it really put me back, it was really hard to deal with.”
She added she was “disappointed” with the six-year sentence but said it was what she had expected.