Judge in rape trial backed for ‘don’t get drunk’ plea
LEADING lawyers and politicians last night rallied to the defence of a judge who warned that women who get drunk may be making themselves a target for rapists.
Judge Lindsey Kushner QC urged women to take more care of themselves as she jailed a man for six years for raping a girl who had been out at a nightclub.
In her final trial before retiring, Judge Kushner said that potential rapists tend to ‘gravitate towards girls who have been drinking’.
She added that ‘a girl who has been drunk is less likely to be believed than one who is sober’.
While the comments sparked criticism from campaign groups who accused her of ‘victimblaming’, others were quick to offer their support.
Tory MP Anna Soubry tweeted: ‘Judge Kushner stated the obvious. Anyone is more vulnerable to any offence of violence (which rape is) if incapacitated by alcohol.’
Francis FitzGibbon QC, chairman of the Criminal Bar Association, said educating women about the risks from predatory men was ‘empowering’.
He said: ‘It is sensible for young women to be educated so that they are aware that there are predatory violent men out there who may take advantage. That level of education is itself a form of empowerment. I don’t see it as any way as victim-blaming.’
And leading barrister Barbara Hewson said it was important Judge Kushner was allowed to get her message across. She said: ‘You may have a generation of young women who are naive and think they can go out and get drunk and somehow think nothing bad will happen to them. That is a disastrous assumption to make.’ Mother-of-two Judge Kushner, 64, made her comments at Manchester Crown Court on Friday at the end of her final trial following a 43-year legal career.
The court heard that the 18year-old victim had drunk a ‘significant amount’ of alcohol and inhaled a ‘popper’ party drug at Manchester’s AXM nightclub last July.
She later met Portuguese pair Orlando Machado and Ricardo Rodrigues-Gomes, both 19. The factory workers took her to a canal path and had sex with her.
Rodrigues-Gomes was convicted of rape and jailed for six years, while Machado was cleared.
Passing sentence Judge Kushner said: ‘People who are potential defendants to rape gravitate towards girls who have been drinking. I beg girls and women to have this in mind.’