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| Use this excuse the next time you rape someone | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: May 6 2013, 05:35 PM (117 Views) | |
| Guest | May 6 2013, 05:35 PM Post #1 |
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A 'sexsomniac' has been cleared of raping a 21-year-old after a jury heard he suffers from a sleep disorder that causes him to have sex without knowing about it. Andrew Machin, 40, admitted the woman did not consent to having sex with him but claimed he was asleep at the time and had no control over his actions. He is one of the first men in the UK to be acquitted of a rape charge after raising the defence of sexsomnia. During the week-long trial, Machin told the jury how his life has been blighted by sleep problems for over 25 years and said he often has sex with his long-term partner Denise Jacks while he is asleep. Machin, from Warsop, Notts, was accused of raping a drunk 21-year-old woman who he met through mutual friends after a night out in Butlins in 2010. Machin told the jury he had just been trying to help the 21-year-old after she vomited following a heavy night of drinking at an 80s club night. He said he helped her into bed before falling asleep beside her and wasn't aware that they had sex. He told jurors: 'I just wanted to go to sleep. I didn't know where I was when I woke up. I was all over the place.' He broke down in tears as he told the jury: 'All I wanted to do was help her. I didn't penetrate her intentionally. I didn't want to hurt her. 'I feel disgusted. It is difficult to describe how I feel.' His partner Ms Jacks, 38, told the court how Machin had undressed her in his sleep and then had sex with her without him knowing. She said: 'It's like he's hypnotised and someone's got the remote control on. He's disgusted with himself. He just can't help it.' Machin's sister Kathy Pickering told the jury that she and one of her sons also suffer sleep disorders. She added: 'I have sleep sex. I discovered that when I was married. My husband told me about it. I've no recollection of what I've done or what I've said.' Trial: Mr Machin admitted the 21-year-old woman did not consent to sex but he was cleared by jurors at Lincoln Crown Court after revealing he suffers from sexsomnia Trial: Mr Machin admitted the 21-year-old woman did not consent to sex but he was cleared by jurors at Lincoln Crown Court after revealing he suffers from sexsomnia Dr Irshaad Ebrahim, a psychiatrist from the London Sleep Clinic, who gave evidence for the defence said that sexsomnia and the associated parasomnia conditions arise in cases where there is a family history of sleep disorders. He said the condition could be triggered by drinking alcohol, sleep deprivation or simply being asleep in close proximity to someone else. Dr Ebrahim continued: 'He gives a typical history of someone with parasomnia. Nothing I have heard undermines a diagnosis that he was asleep.' The jury heard that the 21-year-old was on a girls' weekend away with nine other women when she attended an 80s revival night at the Butlins Holiday Camp in Skegness, in 2010. On the first night she went on a seven hour drinking session, downing over 20 alcopops and spirits, before falling over on the dance floor at a night club within the complex. She was so drunk she could hardly speak and could not stand up. Machin, who knew some of her friends, assisted her back to her chalet where she was undressed and put to bed by one of her friends. The 21-year-old's friends agreed that Machin should stay the night in her room in case she was ill and he assisted her when she vomited. She then fell asleep but woke to find Machin naked in her bed having sex with her. She said: 'I was still drunk. I started to panic when I realised what was happening. I couldn't think properly. I put my hands up and shouted to him to stop. I was shaking.' She said she had never met Machin before, adding: 'If it was sex that I wanted I would have gone out and found it and done it and not said a word to anybody but I didn't.' Stephen Lowne, prosecuting, agreed that Machin suffers from a sleep disorder but accused him of lying about the incident and said Machin knew that what he was doing was wrong. Michael Auty QC, defending, told the jury: 'He was in so many ways a genuine knight in shining armour to this woman. Parasomnia is real and for people who suffer from it, it is desperately real.' He added: 'This is on any view an extremely unusual set of circumstances. There perhaps can be very few instances of an allegation of rape where the defence challenge virtually nothing at all that the victim is actually saying to you.' The jury deliberated over three days before returning a not guilty verdict. Machin, who broke down in tears when the foreman announced the verdict, later said: 'I am deeply sorry for all the heartache and hurt that has been caused by the unfortunate set of circumstances that were beyond my control. 'There has always been two victims in this case. I am glad that the right decision has been made and now I can get on with my life because the last three years have been a nightmare. 'I would like to thank my family, my partner's family, my friends, but especially my partner for all their love and support throughout this ordeal.' This latest case comes after a window fitter was cleared of sexually assaulting a woman because he suffered from sexsomnia in a landmark case in 2010. Darren Greenwood, 33, said he could not remember assaulting the 21-year-old – and claimed he must have done it when he was asleep. His defence was backed by medical experts who said it was a clear case of ‘sexsomnia’. He was cleared of all charges after the jury accepted his extraordinary claims. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2320199/Sexsomniac-40-cleared-raping-21-year-old-Butlins-control-actions-asleep.html#ixzz2SYRZa3DL Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook He knew she didn't say okl. |
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| Tybee | May 6 2013, 06:31 PM Post #2 |
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I thought it was just the judges in the UK who had lost their minds. Apparently some people on the juries have as well. |
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| Guest | May 6 2013, 07:05 PM Post #3 |
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People have no common sense, I wonder if shrinking violet was one of their expert witnesses? Oh no she doesn't testify for men. I'm beginning to believe there is a war on women. |
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| Erna | May 7 2013, 03:35 AM Post #4 |
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This story is useless without a full frontal nude photo of Andrew. |
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| Guest | May 7 2013, 06:44 AM Post #5 |
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Well, if there's sleep walking, why can't there be sleep fucking? |
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| Tybee | May 7 2013, 06:57 AM Post #6 |
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I've heard of "sleep killing", but never "sleep fucking". |
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| Guest | May 8 2013, 03:38 AM Post #7 |
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Rapists and pedophiles will have a field day with this excuse. Tell me, is this lunacy being passed in the water or what? |
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3:55 AM Jul 11