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Media look at the rise and rise of the very 21st century phenomenon of podcasting Page 21
RECONSTRUCTION: James Perou
In the week that the NME publish their Cool List, TV Desk decide which telly luminaries make it into their own pantheon of Cool Page 23
ISSUE 801 November 28 2005
By Charissa Coulthard News Editor POTENTIAL IMPLICATIONS of the 24-hour licensing laws were highlighted last week after a rape case at a Welsh university campus was abandoned because the alleged victim was ‘too drunk’. The 21-year-old student from Aberystwyth University admitted on the second day of the trial that she was too drunk to remember whether or not she had consented to sex, resulting in the case collapsing. The verdict has since caused
national outrage, with legal experts branding it ‘utterly wrong’ and Welsh politicians calling for changes within rape laws. The court heard that the alleged victim was escorted home by student and part-time security guard Ryairi Dougal, 20, after getting drunk on vodka and wine at a party last summer. She later admitted she felt ‘more drunk than ever before’ in her life. After two days she confided in a university counsellor – who then alerted police – after experiencing flashbacks. She claimed that she passed out and when she briefly
came round, ‘something was happening but I didn’t know what’. Mr Dougal, of County Donegal, Ireland, denied allegations, insisting she had agreed to have sex with him in the corridor outside her flat in Aberystwyth halls of residence. This was the first time the student was aware they had had intercourse. He claimed she had been willing to partake in what his barrister Stephen Jones called ‘steamy, passionate, spontaneous sex’, and also claimed the drama student had flirted with him, saying: “I did not know you were so handsome.”
But the alleged victim continued to deny giving consent and said during the trial: “I’m clear in my mind I would not have consented. If I had wanted to sleep with him I would have taken him the few steps to my bedroom.” During cross-examination she admitted she could not remember anything about the events that took place and could not definitively say if she had agreed to sex or not. She told police: “I feel I am to blame because I got so drunk I could not remember the events.” Barrister Huw Rees claimed the prosecution would have to abandon
the case due to the circumstances. “She could not remember giving consent and that is crucial to our case,” he said. “The question of consent is essential … drunken consent is still consent. That was fatal to the prosecution case.” The judge, Mr Justice Roderick Evans, agreed with the prosecution to drop the case and directed the jury to bring in a not guilty verdict – ‘even if you don’t agree’ – at Swansea Crown Court last week. The judgement’s coincidence
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