Yesterday NY Times reported that semen was found on the clothes of the hotel maid. Both the prosecution and defence claimed that the result was consistent with what the prosecution alleged had happened, attempted rape and the defence's claim, consensual sex. Semen found on the clothes of the alleged victim is neither here nor there. At most, it can only negate the defence of a complete denial, which is obviously not the case as the defence suggested to the press earlier on.
Despite the "neutral" result of the DNA test, Dominique Strauss-Kahn (DSK) is still facing an uphill battle to clear his name if his notoriety has not tarnished. I do not know if the maid put up any struggle resulting in any injuries inflicted. If there were such injuries, DSK's fate is gloomy. To the detriment of DSK, it is difficult to persuade the jurors why the maid had to complain to the hotel staff and call the police if what took place was consensual. Also, why he fled right after the incident. From what was reported, I can see the demise of DSK is impending if he has not yet fallen from grace. The case hinges on the credibility of the victim. If she is unshaken under vigorous cross examination, the convictions are not difficult to reach. Given the whole circusmstances of the case, the veracity of the victim's account will not cast any doubt in my mind.
The report said DSK may face up to 25 years for the offences. I did not check the US statues. I presume it is the maximum sentence for the attempted rape. In Hong Kong, rape is a charge under section 118 of the Crimes Ordinance Cap 200. It carries an imprisonment for life. My vague impression of the norm is a sentence in the region of 6 to 8 years. There was in fact a case involving the defendant, despite his guilty pleas, was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 18 years. The facts of the case were very nasty. In March 2008, the defendant broke into a flat. He threatened the female inside, tied her up and blind folded her and then raped her. In June 2008, the defendant again broke into another flat and found two women there. The younger one was the daughter-in-law. The defendant tied up, blind folded and raped the daugher-in-law. Suffice it to state the facts with brevity without going into gruesome details (HKSAR v Chan Li-fat（陳利發）CACC308/2009). The defendant was subsequently arrested and brought before the late Judge Colin Mackintosh (Colin was a brilliant man well liked by prosecution and defence. He died of brain cancer on May 7 2011). (I can send you the appeal judgement if you want to see the justification of the life sentence).
A case of rape like this is worse than murder. The traumas suffered by the victims can be life long. Minimum sentence of 18 years, though a long sentence, is already too lenient for the defendant should he be repentant. If I can take the law in my own hands, I will certainly remove his male prowess and skin him alive.
It is unfortunate that in some cases capital punsishment is frowned upon in developed societies as criminals who are guilty of rape should receive the worst of punishments.
回覆刪除To some degree, the law tries to compensate for such shortcomings with victim impact statements, but it is doubtful that it ultimately offers the victim the sufficient "compensation" they deserve.
In the case of DSK, I don't only see it as conducting something that was illegal; but also someone who is abusing the power that he's been previledged to. The result of the case will hopefully create more governence over public figures' behaviour outside of work; although sadly, society tends to forget things often too quickly.
Anonymous
回覆刪除I am unflinched to execute a rapist myself though I do not advocate capital punishment or lynching. Whether the victim can be compensated is always doubtful. There may be a peace of mind if the rapist is sentenced to a rather lengthy incarceration. Then we have to face the dilemma of a genuine remorse scenario. Do we accept repentance?
The French is probably a very different species. They have got very stringent privacy law to protect the private life of the public figures. The press also helps them suppress the dark side stories and abuses. No wonder paparazzi is Italian instead of French. They have very tolerant wives too. DSK's case may wake them and bring about a change to their accepted value. Let's hope so.
Although the concept of "an eye for an eye" is not something that should be promoted as it only ever continues the perpetual notion of revenge. The fact that the law deems it sufficient that a rapist should be in a prison cell for even 25 years seems a bit light. People, especially in the case of DSK are highly educated and brought up to know the rights and wrongs of not only the law, but of life in general, to commit these crimes in a voluntary capacity shows to me that they shouldn't expect forgiveness for their actions.
回覆刪除The idea of geniune remorse is a tricky area, if a rapist committed a rape due to spur of the moment urges; he will most likely have some level of remorse for his crimes, how do we guarantee those urges won't return given certain circumstances. Should society be put at risk again just because such person geniunely regretted his action at a moment in time?
On a different and much softer level, how is that different from adultery; where a man/woman regrets cheating on their partners; but given the same temptations, are likely to commit the same mistake again. At least in this case the partner has the option to end the relationship and prevent the same crime from happening again. Of course, I am not saying that adultery is the same as rape, but at least there is some avenue for prevention if repentence is not thoroughly deserved.
As to the French system of privacy, it is very truee that values almost "promotes" for such behaviours. As a cautious optimist at the best of times, one can only hope that their values will change. But old habits die hard.
I really don't know. Sometimes when I am irate, I favour eye for an eye. It is so direct and straight forward. When I was younger, I bore that kind of value and stance. Eaten by age, I have softened. I tend to accept forgiveness more. Without doubt, anonymous is a younger bloke.
回覆刪除We can never tell what a true remorse is. It is not difficult to fake one, a genuine faked remorse. In about half of the rape cases, the rapist is known to the victim. It is difficult to evaluate the level of psychological impact. Whether it is an isolated incident done in a spur of moment or a recidivist venture well planned will affect the eventual result. When we tamper justice with mercy, there is always a risk the society has to face. Do we kill them all then in order to safeguard recidivism? Just like the Ancient Roman killing the fragile babies in their culling process to ensure only the strong ones can survive or the chauvinist American's terminology of pre-emptive measures to strike the enemy before they contemplate a move? I am too ignorant to conclude. My learned friends should enlighten me.
Perhaps we have jumped to a hasty conclusion in DSK's case. He still enjoys the presumption of innocence or "nonsense". It is the rule of the game. Whether justice is brought to him eventually is still premature to predict. Another rule of the game is called pre-trial prejudice and fair trial. He will certainly play that kind of game before trial proper. Tony Chan will do the same. When the wiser men above the system think in an erratic way, there comes the windfall of Nina Kung. Sometimes I am not too harsh to Tony Chan. He is just a copycat faking in a more subtle way with professional help.
Well educated or otherwise is not the determining factor in DSK's case. Lust predominates if unchecked. I like to use the word connivance. It is the root of the problem when people cannot tell the difference between connivance and forgiving. I tend to be callous and aloof. Do not let cronyism rule our mind. Bland and callous sometimes help you see things from an objective perpective. Conniving the behaviour of DSK enhances his erotic venture and paradoxically brings him down. He just coincides the Chinese saying "frequenting the mountain eventually bumping into a tiger". What he is lacking is not education, but a "tiger" wife. For the French, inequality of women's social staus may surprise many but it is the phenomenon.