RAPE CASE JUDGE WARNS DRUNK WOMEN
PLEA TO REVELLERS TO STAY SAFE FROM SEX PREDATORS
A RAPE case judge begged women out drinking to protect themselves from men with ‘evil intentions’ – and blasted male predators who think they can ‘pile in’ – as she sentenced a sex attacker caught on camera.
In what she described as a ‘final plea,’ retiring Judge Lindsey Kushner QC made an impassioned speech about the dark side of Britain’s nightlife.
Judge Kushner, who has tried scores of sex cases, said women who had been drinking could find it harder to get justice if they were attacked. “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. It shouldn’t happen, it shouldn’t be like that, but it does happen”, the judge said.
Her remarks came as she sent down Ricardo Rodrigues-Fortes-Gomes, 19, who raped an 18-year-old woman at Ducie Street by the Rochdale Canal at 6am on a Sunday last July.
The woman was drunk after a night out, and Manchester Crown Court heard Gomes ‘joined in’ while she was having consensual sex with his friend, Orlando Machado. Gomes, of Old Hall Drive, Gorton, was arrested after a witness in flats nearby heard the victim pleading for him to stop. The witness taped the incident, providing police with key evidence which led to Gomes being found guilty of rape earlier this year. Prosecutor Henry Blackshaw read a statement from the victim, who said she no longer felt safe going out.
Gomes, a factory worker who came to Manchester from Lisbon, has now been jailed for six years by Judge Kushner, who told him his ‘disgraceful’ behaviour had caused ‘lasting damage’ to the victim, who had made it ‘manifestly clear’ she was not consenting.
Det Con Dave Jones, of GMP’s Major Incident Team, said: “Rodrigues-Fortes-Gomes is now behind bars and unable to force himself upon people for his own selfish sexual gratification.
“Not only did he subject his victim to a horrifically prolonged attack, he made her endure the distress of a trial by denying his involvement.
“It takes an enormous amount of bravery for victims of rape to come forward and I have no doubt that the bravery shown by the woman has helped secure this prosecution.”
It takes an enormous amount of bravery for victims of rape to come forward Det Con Dave Jones