"It isn't a logical conclusion that no findings equals no sexual assault"

Started by outdoors, Jan 17, 2011, 08:25 PM

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outdoors

Jan 17, 2011, 08:25 PM Last Edit: Jan 17, 2011, 08:35 PM by outdoors
Canadian tourist accuses Mexican police of raping her
Police deny reports woman beaten, repeatedly raped, robbed
Last Updated: Monday, January 17, 2011 | 9:39 PM ET
By Stephen Puddicombe, CBC News


A Canadian woman alleges that Mexican police gang-raped her in jail after she and her fiancé were arrested while on vacation in Mexico for New Year's Eve, CBC News has learned.

Rebecca Rutland, 41, says police in the Mexican resort town of Playa del Carmen took the Ontario couple into custody in the late hours of Dec. 31 following a confrontation between officers and her fiancé.

Once in jail, Rutland, a social worker doing her thesis in Thunder Bay, Ont., says two police officers took turns raping her. Rutland and her fiancé, Richard Coleman, 51, of Toronto, also allege officers robbed them of hundreds of dollars and other valuables.

Mexican authorities deny that Rutland was sexually assaulted and dispute the couple's version of events, saying the two were very intoxicated and quarrelled with police in an exchange witnessed by several people.

After several rum-and-cola drinks, Rutland and Coleman say they stopped at a restaurant to use the washroom on their way back to their nearby resort when a man tried to pick up Rutland. Coleman and the man began to argue on the street packed with partygoers and four police officers intervened, the couple says.

Coleman says he had a heated exchange with the officers when the police wanted to search him for drugs. Coleman, a six-foot-tall man with long hair tied in a ponytail and gold hoop earrings, says he believes police targeted him due to his looks.

"I don't think anything I could've said or not said in that moment in time would have really changed it," said Coleman. "But I believe when dealing with a police officer that is overstepping his authority. I believe it is incumbent on me to point it out to them, even if it means I am going to have to deal with some charges afterwards."

Police threw Coleman to the ground, allegedly causing a gash on his forehead, and handcuffed him. They also arrested Rutland.

On the way to the police station, Rutland said a female officer stole one of her rings. Coleman claims an officer also stole more than $700 cash, his BlackBerry and jewelry. He says he later discovered the word "deceased" posted as his BlackBerry Messenger status, as well as Facebook updates via BlackBerry stating he beat his wife.

Allegations of repeated rape
Rebecca Rutland went to the Canadian consular agency in Playa del Carmen on Jan. 12 to report the sexual assault. (Stephen Puddicombe/CBC)
At the police station, a large city block-sized facility, the couple were brought to separate areas, they say. Coleman says he was placed with another foreigner in a cell that reeked of urine.

Rutland says she was taken to a room where an officer conducted a frontal body search, touching her breasts and undoing her jeans. She alleges the officer then made her kneel and forced her to perform oral sex on him. Two police officers, she alleges, then took turns raping her.

She says she didn't put up much resistance because she feared for her life.

"I did try sort of push him away but I had four officers standing there in Kevlar with machine-guns and my feeling was if I tried to resist it was going to make things a whole lot worse for me," said Rutland. "And I just wanted to get out as intact as possible, which is not really all that intact actually."

Rutland said the police officers beat her and also bit her during the ordeal, once below her lip and another time on her right arm leaving a gash and bruise.

At one point, Rutland said she saw the night supervisor at the door. "I remember looking up and thinking and seeing him and thinking, 'Thank God, somebody is going to stop this.' [Then] he turned around and walked away," said Rutland.

Coleman said he learned about Rutland's alleged rape from fellow inmates cleaning and then tried to kill himself, hoping the act would draw attention to his partner's plight.

"I was completely losing it and getting completely depressed and was thinking there's a good chance that neither of us are going to get out of here," said Coleman. Both say they feared the officers would kill them.

"I arrived at some bizarre logical process that the only way we were going to get out of here alive is if one of us could ... if I could kill myself so they would have to bring in authorities, at least then Rebecca would have a chance," he said.

Coleman said officers found him trying to commit suicide by hanging himself with a shirt, then beat him and recuffed him.

Mexican police investigate
Eighteen hours passed before the two were released from jail after paying a 1,600-peso, or $130 Cdn, fine, they say.

The two have filed complaints with the judicial police who investigate local police in Mexico and also the Canadian consular agency in Playa del Carmen, which is about 60 kilometres south of Cancun.

Richard Coleman says a police officer stole his BlackBerry, then used it to change his Messenger status to 'deceased' and also posted a Facebook status update that read, 'I bite and kick my wife.' (Stephen Puddicombe/CBC)
"We are very concerned about these allegations," said Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Alain Cacchione from Ottawa.

Mexican authorities say they are investigating the allegations and co-operating with Canadian officials based at the consulate.

"At the request of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Parliamentary Secretary [Deepak] Obhrai has spoken with Mexico's ambassador to Canada to discuss the case," said Cacchione. "We welcome the Government of Mexico's investigation into these allegations, and we expect a thorough and transparent investigation and a timely resolution to this case."

Rutland says she hoped a video camera in the room where the alleged sexual assault took place would prove her allegations. But Rutland says she was told the camera, apparently screened by officers at another station, has been broken since Dec. 28, days before the alleged attack.

Quintana Roo State Attorney General Francisco Alor Quezada said a rape kit test on Rutland came back negative.

A sexual assault expert from Toronto's Women's College Hospital, however, says a negative finding on the kit doesn't mean a sex assault didn't happen.

"[It could be] for a lot of the reasons, perhaps no penetration by penis, no ejaculation, perhaps digital penetration, a condom was used, a delay in presentation or evidence, did not persist in time," said Dierdre Bainbridge, a primary health-care nurse practitioner with the hospital's Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Care Centre.

"It isn't a logical conclusion that no findings equals no sexual assault," said Bainbridge. "The sexual assault evidence kit is one part of a case."

Rutland and Coleman have hired a Mexican lawyer to represent them in the case.

"I'm not going to let this go," said Rutland, who vowed to pursue every avenue possible.


Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2011/01/17/mexico-alleged-rape-assault.html#ixzz1BLzLETia

outdoors

#1
Jan 17, 2011, 08:31 PM Last Edit: Jan 17, 2011, 08:37 PM by outdoors
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Quote
It isn't a logical conclusion that no findings equals no sexual assault,"

The Biscuit Queen

Even after 18 -24 hours, I would expect her to show signs of swelling and irritation.
he Biscuit Queen
www.thebiscuitqueen.blogspot.com

There are always two extremes....the truth lies in the middle.

BRIAN

Mexican police are pretty bad but they still know where their bread gets buttered. It's highly unlikely they did that to tourists.
You may sleep soundly at night because rough men stand ready to visit violence upon those who seek to harm you.

Quentin0352

With so many people knowing the police in Mexico are corrupt, then if you go and get abused because you are a drunken idiot while there, I have little sympathy for you. Add it the guy claiming they were picking on him because of his hair and earrings when they asked to search him for drugs and I am betting there are some major details being left out by this couple as well as serious exaggerations on what happened compared to their claims.

neoteny

I'm with Quentin on this one; they were giving attitude to the locals, cops included... and suffered for it. Now before anybody says that "she didn't deserve to get raped", I agree; nobody deserves to get raped, just like nobody deserves to get murdered or robbed or kicked in the face... and the fact of the alleged rape is yet to be established. We all remember the Duke Rape Hoax...
The spreading of information about the [quantum] system through the [classical] environment is ultimately responsible for the emergence of "objective reality." 

Wojciech Hubert Zurek: Decoherence, einselection, and the quantum origins of the classical

outdoors

well...if you all look at the story again--she is a social worker in training

also-how is it not "logical" to conclude that  that no findings equals no sexual assault?

are they saying that just because the alleged victim says so-it must have happened-evidence or not?

sounds to me like this woman is a victim of victimhood propaganda and to cover her own bad behavior-crying rape might be her best defence.

how does the the woman's hospital sexual assault team get involved in this?
-because everyone knows they will be non-bias in their findings-right?

outdoors


Canadian alleging rape in Mexico back in Toronto
Last Updated: Tuesday, January 18, 2011 | 10:32 PM ET
CBC News
A Canadian woman who claims she was gang-raped by police in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, on New Year's Eve was arrested earlier that day with her fiancé because they were drunk and hit a car, officials at the Mexican Embassy in Canada said.

Rebecca Rutland went to the Canadian consular agency in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, on Jan. 12 and reported that Mexican police had raped her. (Stephen Puddicombe/CBC)
Rebecca Rutland, 41, and her fiancé, Richard Coleman, 51, flew back to Toronto on Tuesday as the embassy released details about Mexico's investigation into the alleged assaults.

"It is really good to be home," Rutland told CBC News, shortly after arriving in Toronto. "There's something to be said for Canada."

The embassy said that according to preliminary information, Rutland and Coleman were drinking at a bar in the coastal resort town and "started a fight and attacked each other."

"During the brawl, they hit a car whose driver requested the assistance of the police, which eventually arrested both intoxicated," the embassy said in a statement.

The couple were released that afternoon, according to the embassy, and upon arriving at their hotel, required staff assistance to file a complaint at the district attorney's office.

"An investigation by the authorities of Quintana Roo state is ongoing in order to determine whether a crime was committed and, if it's the case, prosecute and punish whoever is responsible," the embassy statement said.

Rutland, a social worker working on her thesis in Thunder Bay, Ont., has offered a different version of events. She said the couple attracted the attention of the police that day when Coleman got into an argument with a man on the street who tried to pick up Rutland.

Canadian tourist alleges Mexican police gang-raped her in jail. The couple said four police officers intervened, leading to a heated exchange and, eventually, their arrest.

Once in jail, Rutland said, two police officers took turns raping her. Coleman said while he was being detained in another cell, he learned about Rutland's alleged rape from fellow inmates and then tried to kill himself, hoping the act would draw attention to his partner's plight.

Coleman said officers found him trying to hang himself with a shirt, then beat him and re-cuffed him.

The couple said 18 hours after their arrest, they were released from jail after paying a 1,600-peso ($130 Cdn) fine. The couple also allege officers robbed them of hundreds of dollars and other valuables.

Mexican authorities deny that Rutland was sexually assaulted and dispute the couple's version of events.

Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said Tuesday that Ottawa is asking the Mexican government to "get to the bottom" of the allegations.

"We have asked the Mexican ambassador not only to look at [this case], but we've asked him to set an inquiry in place," Cannon said Tuesday.

"We take these allegations very seriously."
This story is closed to commenting..

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2011/01/18/mexico-alleged-rape-embassy.html?ref=rss#ixzz1BU3fY31Y

neoteny

Quote
Coleman said while he was being detained in another cell, he learned about Rutland's alleged rape from fellow inmates and then tried to kill himself, hoping the act would draw attention to his partner's plight.


Wow... just wow.
The spreading of information about the [quantum] system through the [classical] environment is ultimately responsible for the emergence of "objective reality." 

Wojciech Hubert Zurek: Decoherence, einselection, and the quantum origins of the classical

outdoors

 i think she is is liar or an awfull good story teller;

http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/News/1221258968/ID=1752392421

outdoors

 i guess i am not the only one to smell a skunk;


Quote
niaknows wrote:Posted 2011/01/19
at 7:37 PM ETMexico is a wonderful destination for a vacation. Several of the Canadians who have been killed or injured while vacationing there have been grossly intoxicated and their actions led to their demise. Same as the gal who 'alleges" she was raped. The couples story is suspect to say the least. They are attention seekers. They believe their own story because too many suckers in Canada will believe them.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2011/01/19/bc-penticton-dilorenzo-mexico-shooting-mazatlan-family.html#socialcomments#ixzz1BXajf21Y

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