One of the men who intervened in a high-profile U.S. rape incident at a Stanford University party has spoken of his experience after the rapist, Brock Turner, was sentenced to just six months jail.
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Turner’s father claimed his son had already been punished enough: “His life will never be the one he dreamed about and worked so hard to achieve”. There was no mention of the woman Turner raped, and there has been no sense of remorse or apology from Turner or his family for the rape itself.
“I understand that this appeal has now provided an opportunity for people to misconstrue my ideas into a distortion that suggests I sympathize with sex offenses and those who commit them or that I blame the victim involved”, the statement reads.
Before Turner learned his sentence, the woman he raped a year and a half ago read a 12-page, single spaced letter addressed to him.
“But, I never meant to intentionally hurt (the victim)”. In the letter, she discusses learning about her assault, reliving that night in court, and struggling to move forward after everything that happened to her.
“In my opinion, the longer that this fight continues, the longer that responsibility is pushed off, and responsibility is pushed onto everything else; alcohol abuse and parties and everything else, the more that the story is going to haunt him for the rest of his life”, said Sonsire.
Also, Leslie Rasmussen, 22, a member of the rock band Good English and a former classmate of Turner, posted an apology on Facebook for writing a letter asking for leniency for Turner, according to ABC News.
For many student survivors, being able to access appropriate support is a “postcode lottery” due to the lack of standards in the higher education sector.
“Thanks you to the two men who saved me, who I have yet to meet”, the victim wrote.
“If my daughter was a victim, I’d be livid. For now, I am every woman”. Although both petitions were likely to clear the threshhold for requiring a response from the White House, it is unclear what, if anything, the Obama administration can do about the case or the judge’s term on the bench. How will he cope with jail?
“The probation officer’s recommendation of a year or less in county jail is a soft time-out, a mockery of the seriousness of his assaults, an insult to me and all women”. Her pain matters, and she shouldn’t have to feel it.
The maximum sentence available for Turner’s crimes in the state of Calif.is 14 years, while the minimum is two years, but the prosecution asked for six years. It would have been the exact same result for a person of color.
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Turner said that he hoped to “take what I can from who I was before this situation happened and use it to the best of my abilities moving forward”. And you’re right, maybe I was still fluttering my eyes and wasn’t completely limp yet, fine.
