A woman has been awarded £35,000 in compensation from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) after her rape case was dropped over claims that she could have had an episode of a rare sleep condition called sexsomnia.
Jade Blue McCrossen-Nethercott, 32, contacted police in 2017, when she was 24, after waking up to discover she was half-naked, and with the sense that she had been raped while she slept.
Three years later – and days before the man charged with raping her was due to stand trial – lawyers from the CPS said her case was being dropped because two sleep experts said it was possible McCrossen-Nethercott had had an episode of sexsomnia – a medically recognised, but rare, sleep disorder which can cause a person to engage in sexual acts in their sleep, while appearing to be awake and consenting. The case was closed and the defendant acquitted.
In 2022, McCrossen-Nethercott sued the CPS after it admitted her rape case should not have been dropped. Now, the BBC has reported that she has been paid £35,000 by the CPS, which said it had “apologised unreservedly” to her and was “committed to improving every aspect of how life-changing crimes like rape are dealt with”.
I do believe she feels raped, and I do feel the sexsomnia excuse is BS especially since other experts say that sexomnia exists only in papers used to defend rapists. There should’ve been a fair trial to determine if the rape indeed occured according to the rules of law (that does not mean she cannot feel violated if that’s ruled out though). But to say that you just blindly need to believe her, or the accused is a but too much for my taste.
I will probably not be liked for this opinion but I hope we don’t fall into the trap of always believing one or the other side without critical thinking. The victim deserves to be believed so that there will be an investigation and a court ruling and the accused deserves to be presumed innocent until proven otherwise. The judicialsystem is not flawless (see this example) and the negatives from those flaws have impact on both the accused and the victim. Only not always in the same amount or in the same time.
It exists, my wife has told me I’ve done it multiple times. It wasn’t to completion, I fell fully back asleep half way through, but sex was initiated. I was not conscious for the experience.
I have no opinion on this case but the phenomenon does exist.
Sorry… “feels” raped?
What the fuck?
“With the sense she has been raped wile she slept”
Seems to me an appropriate short hand to what was written. And i also believe that in rape cases, like all criminal cases, the victim should be trusted but verified. And the accused is innocent until proven guilty. And that the names of both parties should be sealed until the matter is resolved.