A monster, yes, but is Weinstein’s 23-year sentence true justice... or just vengeance?

Good riddance, Harvey Weinstein. Your humiliation is complete, your disgrace total. The former Hollywood mogul left court this week to begin a 23-year sentence for rape and sexual assault. Yet the harshness of his sentence shocked many, not least his lawyer donna Rotunno.

outside the New York courtroom she said; ‘ I’m not here to say “poor Harvey” but we were looking for fairness and we didn’t get it.’

despite the revulsion one feels for Weinstein and his despicable crimes, does she have a point? His sentence was six years shy of the maximum available and certainly less than some murderers receive.

of course, it was only correct that Weinstein was found guilty of some of the charges brought against him by six women, although not, please note, of the most serious ones. A jury found him guilty of rape in the third degree and a criminal sexual act in the first degree, but not guilty on more serious charges of predatory sexual assault.

There is no doubt he has indulged in a lifetime of abuse, using his power to get his sexual kicks — and then buying a queasy silence by threatening those who wished to expose him.

Yet I also feel unease that the sentence seems to reflect the many other women who have also accused him of abuse, but did not have their claims tested in court. In that respect it was almost a trial by contagion, led by the parameters of the #MeToo movement, not by the evidence.

Weinstein’s punishment seems excessive, hyped up by public pressure. For to believe in justice is to believe in justice for everyone, no matter how morally repugnant the accused might be.

How does it compare to other sexual assault sentences? Six months ago a

New York rapist who approached a woman with a gun, abducted her and repeatedly sodomised and raped her in her car was given 17 years.

Earlier, a school bus driver who admitted raping a 14-year- old girl after plying her with alcohol was given only a probationary sentence.

Nothing makes much sense in the problematic world of sexual assault sentencing.

Chained to the wheelchair that replaced the walking frame that succeeded his stick — aids that were supposed to bear vivid testament to his apparent physical and mental decline — Weinstein gave a rambling speech from the dock, the gist of which was: ‘I thought we were friends.’

He is the worst kind of bully, but is there merit in what he says? The mitigating circumstances and continued friendships — some of the women remained in cordial contact with him for years — must have sent mixed messages. Getting away with it for so long, sometimes with the compliance of the women he was abusing, must have made him feel he was doing nothing wrong.

It certainly encouraged his warped belief that sex was an open-all-hours banquet, something he could enjoy on his own terms and at his every whim. one of the women who gave evidence against him said she came to court not as a ‘perfect victim’ with a straightforward story, but as a complicated human being. Indeed.

Meanwhile, victim Jessica Mann left the witness box in tears after giving evidence of her rape, then was heard screaming outside.

She said: ‘Those were the screams that wanted to come out while Harvey was raping me.’

despite the fact she had admitted having a long relationship with Weinstein that was of mutual benefit and had even continued seeing him after the traumatic sexual encounters, it must still be very difficult for a defence team to compete with that.

Far too much testimony was devoted to his physical shortcomings; the implication being that it wouldn’t have mattered quite so much if he had looked like Brad Pitt. Nobody did themselves HoWEvER, any favours with this.

there was far worse behaviour from all those in Hollywood who enabled Weinstein for years by knowing what was going on but turning a blind eye. And I mean everyone.

Today, they are probably feeling reassured by his harsh sentence, without ever pausing to examine their consciences. Harvey being banged up forever makes everyone feel good about themselves.

I won’t shed a tear. There is much to celebrate in his downfall. Men everywhere are reminded to think once, twice, three times before putting an uninvited hand on a woman’s body.

Yet one can celebrate the brute being behind bars, but also still feel uneasy about the righteous pitchforking from women he considered friends that put him there in the first place.