A mother of a Scottish teenage rape victim was forced to suspend her underwear in court and committed suicide. She said she was “shocked” by the recent case of the country that caused widespread protests.
Women in Ireland and around the world shared their underwear pictures on Twitter under the label #ThisIsNotConsent, in a case of Cork, a senior defense lawyer used a underwear that the alleged rape victim chose – in this case The next is a thong – arguing that she agreed to make love.
The case had some similarities to a 2002 Scottish trial when a 15-year-old boy was found guilty of rape of Lindsay Armstrong (17).
Lindsay committed suicide two weeks after the trial ended.
During the trial, the 17-year-old boy was asked to lift her thong and read the slogan “Little Devil” in front.
Her mother, Linda Armstrong, said she thought her teenage daughter’s experience with underwear would no longer happen.
“I was shocked that this kind of thing is still used as evidence.
“When a friend sent the story to me, I learned about the case. It brought all the bad memories.
Ms. Armstrong said: “I just think I can’t believe they are still mentioning it.”
Lindsay Armstrong was raped in a park near her home in September 2001, when her attacker was 14 years old. He was sentenced to four years in prison after the second year of trial.
Lindsay’s mother is from Ayrshire. She said that she appreciates the complainant in the Cork trial and does not have to pull her underwear like her daughter. However, the connection between underwear and consent is similar.
“Lindsay was forced to lift her underwear three times,” she said.
“She once said that he had taken off her underwear instead of literally tearing. She just meant that he pulled it off her.
“They said she had to hold up her thong to prove that her underwear didn’t tear, to prove she was a liar.
“But when Lindsay picked them up, she said she barely recognized them because they were covered by the incisions taken by the DNA samples. So it didn’t really prove that they were not torn because they had been damaged.
“She is very embarrassed, she cried, she put them down. Then tell her to pick them up again.
“After that he [defense lawyer] told her to pick them up again and read what was written before. It has nothing to do with whether they were torn.”
In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Ms. Armstrong said that Cork’s case gained momentum around the world.
Yesterday in Dublin, Stacie Ellen Murphy stood in her underwear and held her own protest outside the Criminal Justice Court.
The notes written on her skin include “This is not consent”, “disagree” and “I am not asking for it”.
After the rape survivor Leona O’Callaghan appeared in court, she was strongly influenced by the victim and told her rapist that “you did not win” and she was warmly welcomed.
Fox News, The New York Times, Time Magazine, Sky News, CNN and the BBC are among the international news agencies that reported protests after the rape trial in Cork earlier this month.
“The lawyer in the rape trial is associated with consent, and the outbreak in Ireland” is a title in the “New York Times.”
Last week, TD Ruth Coppinger raised a thong in Dáil while discussing the case, and the clip became viral.
