‘Rough sex’ defence scrapped as excuse for killing in victory for Express crusade
THE Daily Express’s “End This Injustice” campaign has won another victory with the removal of the “rough sex” defence from the Domestic Abuse Bill.
A new clause has been published by the Government which would rule out consent for sexual gratification as a defence in England and Wales for causing serious harm.
The amendment was hailed a “milestone” by Labour’s Harriet Harman, who has been campaigning tirelessly on the issue.
The clause was drafted by Dame Vera Baird, Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales, after the Express raised the issue following the murder of British backpacker Grace Millane, 22, in New Zealand.
Dame Vera said: “It will be very plain this is the end of the defence when somebody is killed and badly hurt. It’s been the law throughout that you can’t consent to grievous bodily harm or actual bodily harm.
“How did the defence get off the ground? It’s a terribly masculine society still. This is about resisting violence against women and an acquiescence of violence against women.” Dame Vera said she felt for the parents in cases where women had died and their claimed it happened during rough sex.
She said: “Can you imagine what the woman’s parents had suffered and what the impact is?
“[Defendants claim] she was not good, she was a whore, it was what she wanted and I did it to oblige her.’
“The clause is a good moment for change.” Dame Vera said provocation had existed in law for when a person was considered to have committed a criminal act as a result of a preceding set of events.
She described the new clause as a “much higher test now”.
Campaign group We Can’t Consent To This, which wants murder charges to be brought against those suspected of killing during sex, hailed it as a “victory”. killers had accidentally
Currently the law says if someone kills during sex they could be charged with manslaughter. To murder someone, there has to have been an intention to do that or to cause them GBH.
The amendment invalidates the defence of consent when a victim suffers serious harm or is killed.
Justice Minister Alex Chalk has pledged to amend the bill to make clear this defence is unacceptable.
He also vowed to protect victims of domestic abuse through an overhaul of the Family Court in light of the Express’s campaign, which he said was crusaded for “effectively and emotively in these pages”.
But domestic abuse campaigner Rachel Williams said further legislation was needed against non-fatal strangulation.