Another day another jawdropping misogynistic comment from a judge to a teenage rape victim.
In news straight out of “we can’t make this shit up’’ a Canadian judge was promoted to the country’s Federal Court after presiding over a trial where he asked a rape victim “why couldn’t you just keep your knees together’?
The obviously sensitive and compassionate judge was sitting on a sexual assault case in 2014 when he made the gobsmacking comments to the 19-year-old victim, who claimed she was raped over a bathroom sink at a party.
Judge Robin Camp had a lot of good advice to offer throughout the trial, at one stage suggesting “why didn’t you just sink your bottom down into the basin so he couldn’t penetrate you?’’
(Remember that tip for next time you might find yourself in that situation girls.)
And then he berated her for not really trying hard enough to bring attention to her plight saying if she was “frightened you could have screamed.’’ Fair enough. I don’t know why she didn’t think of that when she had a 115kg man attacking her in a bathroom during a party. She mustn’t have been thinking straight.
And when the victim claimed she experienced physical pain during the attack, Judge Camp came over all wise man: “Sex is very often a challenge. Sex and pain sometimes go together, … that’s not necessarily a bad thing.’’
Mic drop.
In fairness, Judge Camp showed his compassionate side when he advised the defendant on how he could avoid getting himself into this predicament in the future:
“You’ve got to be really sure she’s saying yes,’’ he told the defendant who he acquitted dismissing the crime as a `misbehaviour’ “So remind yourself every time that you get involved with a girl from now on and tell your friends, okay?’’
What a great guy.
The case was taken to a Canadian Court of Criminal Appeal last year where a new trial was ordered. As a result of his comments coming to light, many have called for Camp to be sacked from his position on Canada’s Federal Court. Yes you read it correctly, Judge Camp had been promoted in the interim.
Another red letter day for the world’s modern progressive judicial systems.
