Mark Linnhoefer – Owen Labrie, 19, a graduate of St. Paul’s Prep School is being accused of having raped a then 15-year old student about a year ago in the attic room of an academic building.
The defendant denies any such allegations and describes the encounter as consensual. According to Labrie, the two sneaked into the attic and laid down on a blanket in nothing but their underwear. He further testified that he may have gotten a little carried away because of his arousal, leading to the bruises on the girl’s breasts, but he says that no penetration ever took place. Labrie furthermore claims that they were both giggling and that he was held by her in an affectionate way.
“I thought she was having a great time”, he testified. When he went to get a condom, however, he said that he changed his mind about the sex and did not bother her any longer. Although he did claim to have had intercourse with the girl in front of his friends, the defendant testified that he was merely bragging.
The accuser, however, has a different version of how things went down – she agrees that she voluntarily went to the attic with Labrie and that they took of their clothes and started kissing. She claims, however, that when he started biting her breasts and removing her underwear she objected, but he wouldn’t listen and then allegedly raped her. There was no sperm found in her cervix, but some of Labrie’s genetic material was found on her underwear which also had sperm and semen on it, which was tested but the results were inconclusive. Labrie testified that his underwear was damp as he had ejaculated in it earlier and that that may be the origin of his DNA on the girl’s underwear.
The defense lawyer tried to blame the entire happening on a school tradition called “Senior Salute” where senior students take younger girls’ virginities as an act of pride. The prosecutor however disagrees and says that “it wasn’t the school’s fault”.
Whose version is the truth, we cannot know until the trial is over, but this reporter would like to say that this trial might be a lot of trouble over nothing. In Germany, for example, there would be nothing illegal about consensual sex between an 18 and a 15 year old, unless the younger person’s parents file an official complaint deeming their child unfit for sexual relations. And although it would of course be horrible if that girl was actually raped, this reporter is not so sure about the whole thing. The girl’s parents might be behind this as it is often the case in these trials. Parents seeking to protect their daughter often over-interpret things and cause bigger trouble than necessary is all this reporter’s saying.
Who is lying and exaggerating this reporter cannot claim to know, but it all does point to either consensual intercourse or nothing at all. If it was an actual rape, the guy needs to be sentenced of course, The jury will resume its deliberation today, and we will have to wait and see before jumping to any conclusions too hastily.
You must be logged in to post a comment.