DUBLIN -- Protests have flared across Ireland this week triggering a viral campaign online after a defense lawyer showed a 17-year-old girl's thong or G-string in court as alleged proof of her consent in a rape case.
The mother of a girl who killed herself after being forced to hold up her underwear in court has added her voice to a campaign against victim blaming. Lindsay Armstrong, 17, wept as she was told to show the jury deliberating over her rape trial the thong she was wearing the night she was attacked.
The mother of a Scottish teenage rape victim who took her own life after being forced to hold up her underwear in court has said she is "appalled" by the recent case in this country that has prompted widespread protests.
Fast forward about a decade, and another unfortunate tale of ill-timed urination is spreading like wildfire across the pages of the internet. This time, however, an attorney is the one who claims she was forced to urinate in her seat â and it happened as she sat at the defense table during her clientâs murder trial.
Katherine Araniello spoke to ITV News about her ordeal. But she says she was told she âwasnât a credible witnessâ and that a âjury wouldnât believe [her].â
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Noeline Blackwell, the head of Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, said she was not surprised by the focus placed on the teenage girlâs underwear. âThe reference to the girlâs underwear and the ...
On Tuesday, Ruth Coppinger, a member of the Irish Parliament, pulled a thong out of her sleeve during public debate to protest what happened at the trial, further raising the profile of the case . âWe felt it was necessary to make the point that itâs incongruous to have a thong shown in Parliament, and itâs incongruous for a woman in a rape trial ...
A doctor told the court that he had observed a laceration in her bleeding vagina. But defense experts argued that this was not proof that she had been raped, or even that she had had sex. The defendants said the encounter had been consensual, and denied having vaginal sex with the woman.
Mary Crilly , head of Corkâs Sexual Violence Centre, said jurors in rape cases should never be told to have regard for what the women wore. âI think it will put young girls off reporting and I donât blame them,â she told the Examiner. âIt is totally unfair and the victim is blamed all the times.
Thousands of woman share their underwear to stop rape victims being shamed in court. A teen who claimed she was raped was shamed about the underwear she wore on the night of the alleged incident. It outraged a nation.
The case, in which the man was cleared of rape, was originally reported by the Irish Examiner newspaper on 6 November.
The day after publication of that court report, the head of Dublin's Rape Crisis Centre criticised the barrister's remarks.
Lunchtime protests calling for an end to "victim-blaming in the courts" took place in a number of Irish cities on Wednesday, organised by Socialist feminist group Rosa.
âThey said she had to hold up her thong to prove that her underwear wasnât ripped, to make out she was a liar.
The case has parallels with a trial in Scotland in 2002 in which a 15-year-old boy was found guilty of raping 17-year-old Lindsay Armstrong.
She was wearing a thong with a lace front. â. Follow The Telegraph. Facebook icon. Follow on Facebook.
Back in 2009, the unfortunate tale of a Biglaw receptionist who was allegedly forced to urinate in her seat as she performed her duties made the rounds on the internet. She desperately had to use the restroom on multiple occasions, but claimed that because the firm hadnât provided anyone to relieve her, she had no choice ...
In an interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Judge Johnson claimed that the entire situation arose from a âmiscommunication,â and that she âat no time told [Hankins] she couldnât go to the bathroom.â.
Johnson claims she âcouldnât hearâ Hankins as she attempted to get the judgeâs attention, and that she later sent a note back to the public defender asking her if she could wait to use the restroom, but ânever got a reply back.â. Unfortunately for Judge Johnson, she seems to be alone in her recollection of the episode.
DeKalb Sheriffâs Deputy A. Owens, who was in the courtroom that day, wrote a report about the incident. Hereâs his account: Owens said he saw Hankins squirming in her chair, raising a finger to get the judgeâs attention and appearing to say she needed a restroom break.
Georgiaâs Judicial Qualifications Commission is investigating Judge Courtney Johnson after allegations of gross (literally) misconduct were lodged against her by Maurice Kenner of the Georgia Public Defender Council after Jan Hankins, one of his public defenders, was denied several requests for a bathroom break.
According to Hankins, after hearing about the incident, Judge Johnson seemed to care more about the state of the chair than the public defenderâs predicament. â [T]he chair wasnât soiled and there was no liquid around her. Itâs very suspicious to me,â Johnson said. Sponsored.
The case has some parallels with a trial in Scotland in 2002, when a 15-year-old boy was found guilty of raping Lindsay Armstrong (17). Lindsay took her own life two weeks after the trial ended. During the trial, the 17-year-old was asked to hold up her thong, and read the slogan on the front which said 'Little Devil'.
Lindsay's mother, who is from Ayrshire, said she appreciates the complainant in the Cork trial did not have to hold up her underwear unlike her daughter. However, the linking of underwear to consent was similar. "Lindsay was made to hold up her underwear three times," she said. "She had said that he had ripped her underwear off, ...
On Tuesday, Ruth Coppinger, a member of the Irish Parliament, pulled a thong out of her sleeve during public debate to protest what happened at the trial, further raising the profile of the case . âWe felt it was necessary to make the point that itâs incongruous to have a thong shown in Parliament, and itâs incongruous for a woman in a rape trial ...
A doctor told the court that he had observed a laceration in her bleeding vagina. But defense experts argued that this was not proof that she had been raped, or even that she had had sex. The defendants said the encounter had been consensual, and denied having vaginal sex with the woman.