I was being maternal, says rape case judge
A JUDGE who triggered widespread debate after claiming women were at greater risk of being raped if they get drunk has revealed her comments were carefully planned and motivated by her instincts as a mother.
Lindsey Kushner QC, who has now retired, said there was ‘absolutely no excuse’ for sex attacks, but warned that men gravitate towards vulnerable women.
She gave her views after presiding over her final trial at Manchester Crown Court as she jailed a man who raped an 18-year-old woman by the Rochdale Canal in Manchester city centre. Mrs Kushner, 65, argued that a woman ‘in drink’ was more likely to agree to demands because ‘they are more disinhibited’ and less likely to be able to fight men off. Mrs Kushner also said drunken victims could be less likely to report attacks due to shame, lack of memory or confusion. “Girls are perfectly entitled to drink themselves into the ground, if they want to, but they should be aware that people who are potential
offenders do actually gravitate towards girls who have been drinking,” she said as she sent down Ricardo Rodriguez-Fortes-Gomes, 19, from Gorton, for six years.
“It shouldn’t happen, it shouldn’t be like that, but it does happen.”
Mrs Kushner QC was accused of ‘victim-blaming’ by a police and crime commissioner but praised by the victim, who waived her right to anonymity to say she supported her comments.
The retired judge, a mother-of-two, said in an interview with The Times that her comments were motivated by her maternal instincts and reflected ‘the sort of advice you give to your daughter’.
“When I see girls in town sometimes I worry about them,” she told the newspaper. “You know, when the clubs are coming out or something like that, if they’re worse for wear for drink, I worry about them. I think we should be putting more effort into educating the men, to be quite honest.
“Why do they think that if a girl dresses or behaves a certain way, or is drinking, that, as it were, gives them licence to try and have sex with them — whether they may want it or they may not?”