WOMAN MASQUERADES AS A MAN IN SEX SCANDAL
. . . uses sex toys on another woman
LONDON. — A woman, who duped another woman into having sex during a ‘two-year relationship’ by PRETENDING TO BE A MAN, has been jailed.
Blade Silvano (41) was given 10 years and six months in prison after she was found guilty of sexual assault by penetration against an unnamed female victim.
The court heard Silvano tricked her into having sexual intercourse on at least two occasions by using an ‘unknown object’ that the victim thought was “her penis”.
The trial was told that the defendant hid her true gender by always wearing a t-shirt and boxers, turning the light off and never allowing the victim to see or touch “her genitalia”.
The couple also messaged and ‘sexted’ every day during their lengthy relationship and had even started planning a wedding.
But the jury heard they only met physically on a few occasions as Silvano had ‘lied’ about having cancer and being in the British Army.
Silvano’s shocked victim discovered her ‘lover’s’ true gender on Facebook nearly two years after they started dating.
She was convicted at Cambridge Crown Court earlier this year, before receiving her prison sentence on Wednesday following a five-day trial.
Detective Constable Leeza Phillips, who investigated the case, said:
“This was an extraordinary investigation and unlike any case I’ve seen before in Cambridgeshire, Silvano carried out the ultimate deception and has caused extreme distress to her victim.
“Without the full facts, the victim was not able to give her consent to a sexual relationship and this whole situation has left her feeling violated and traumatised.
“As this case highlights, we have specially trained officers who are there to support victims and bring offenders to justice. I hope the victim and her family can now find some closure from this traumatic period.”
During the trial, the victim said she thought she was having sex with a man called Blade Mendez — and had never consented to doing it with a female.
“When we had sex, Blade would usually blindfold me and I was never allowed to look at the penetration occurring.
“He would never allow me to go near his genital region and I never saw his penis.”
She added:
“He would rebuff me every time I tried to make an advance; he would nudge me away. He was using sex toys on me; it was not allowed the other way round. He told me he was a man and it was on that basis I agreed to have sex with him.” —