Fifty Shades of Rape?

[undercoverbrother]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crim...ges-thrown-out

A bizarre rape trial with echoes of the novel Fifty Shades of Grey has been thrown out of court.
A Stratford man accused of raping his estranged wife while masked and pretending to be another man was facing trial by jury on two counts of sexual violation by rape and four counts of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection.
But in the New Plymouth District Court yesterday Judge Allan Roberts acquitted the man of the charges.
Defence lawyer Paul Keegan said the judge had commented that it was the "most extraordinary" trial he had ever sat on.
He said both the judge and the jury had indicated they had serious concerns about the credibility of the victim.
The charges resulted from two sexual encounters between the man and his former wife last year.

If he presents himself as someone else to have sex with her is it rape?

[missdpuck]

If he presents himself as himself is it rape

[Temporary_User]

Definitely a crazy case!
They had two encounters, both blindfolded and faces covered.

[Oling_Roachinen]

It reminds me of the old joke:

A couple were getting ready for a masquerade party when the wife came down with a headache and decided to stay home. The husband was concerned but at his wife's insistence of going out and having a good time he agreed to go alone.

He put on his mask and costume and made his way to the party after kissing his wife goodnight. An hour later the wife woke up feeling much better and decided to surprise her husband at the party. When she got there she was shocked to see him grinding up on all sorts of women on the dancefloor. She realized he didn't know what mask she was wearing and decided to see how far he would go. She met him on the dance floor and after a short time had coerced him into meeting up stairs in the bedroom. During their rendezvous they kept the masks on and she slipped away to head home feeling very conflicted.

When the husband got back she asked him how the party was. He told her that he wasn't feeling the party without her and decided to head downstairs to play poker with the guys. But he did lend his costume to his friend Paul who told them he had one crazy night!
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The article doesn't go into much detail into why he was acquitted. It says he maintained that his wife believed it was him and the defense lawyer says the judge and jury had concerns for the victims credibility. So to me that seems to indicate that the man was acquitted because there wasn't enough proof against him. I wonder if he had admitted that he had misled her what the verdict would have ended up being?

[mykalberta]

IMO

Its rape if the husband did it and the wife didnt know before hand it was happening.

Its not rape if its a planned event by both parties.

But ugh, its a really slippery slope. Takes the "she said no but she really meant yes" defence to the extreme.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

But ugh, its a really slippery slope. Takes the "she said no but she really meant yes" defence to the extreme.

Seems like you didn't really read the article. It's more of a "she said yes but she really meant no" type of thing, similar to this case in Israel.

[Coys1882]

Cue Rubecube in 5. 4. 3. 2....

[Cole436]

I think it's rape. It was a violation of her body by a person she would not have had sex with if she had known his true identity.

[Flash Walken]

Reminds me of The Return of Martin Guerre, which would become the basis for the Simpson's episode where Skinner is revealed as an imposter.

[GGG]

To me he raped her because he ran to avoid getting caught therefore new she wouldn't consent. If he had a genuine belief that she knew it was him it it wasn't