There are monsters amongst us, and there are others who support them. Yesterday, sympathisers with three men who were sentenced for the “cruel, cynical and depraved” rape of a woman crowded into a courtroom to shout out messages of comfort – and give a thumbs up, not to the victim, but to the degenerates who assaulted her.
Some of you might think the term monsters is an overstatement. I disagree. Sentencing the three men, Mr Justice Paul Burns said they had taken advantage of the vulnerability of an intoxicated young woman in a manner “devoid of any semblance of human decency”. If monstrous is defined as extreme wickedness then that fits the bill, in my opinion. How we treat people when they are most vulnerable says a lot about who we actually are. Dehumanising others is what monsters do.
The three men, Anthony Hickey, Fabio Vicente and Matin Zolfaghari (pictured below) were sentenced to between 14 and 16 years for their crimes – carried out six years ago when, as the judge noted, they were “mature” men, who subjected the victim to an “abhorrent series of sexual attacks”.
They went “far beyond humiliation” in their rape and sexual assault of the woman, and they were in “total denial of her inherent dignity as a human being”, the judge added.
Yet their supporters saw fit to crowd into the courtroom in large numbers, giving the thumbs up to rapists and claiming they were “very upset because those sentenced were “all innocent”. As the Irish Times reports:
After the court rose, a large number of supporters of the men entered the back of the courtroom, some shouting “I love you”, with others giving the thumbs up to the men.
When directed to leave by gardaí, a female voice said “we are all very upset right now, give us a minute”, while another female voice called out “they were over-sentenced, they are all innocent”.
The actions of the rapists’ supporters are all the more repulsive given the shocking, disturbing and depraved evidence uncovered by An Garda Síochána – evidence that the victim has been forced to relive and endure to bring these perpetrators to justice.
The men acted together, the judge found: it was a case of ”concerted and simultaneous sexual abuse by three men of a vulnerable woman” adding that it was truly shocking” that such “vile abuse” could happen to a woman on a night out in Dublin.
Hickey, a personal trainer, Vicente, a part-time stripper, and Zolfaghari, a restaurant director, have showed no remorse, the judge said. They made videos of their rape and sexual assault. One chilling message, in particular, showed that some of them seemed to find their victim’s attempt at refusal amusing.
An analysis of Hickey’s phone identified WhatsApp messages in which he asked Zolfaghari to send him a video. After Zolfaghari sent two clips which he had recorded on the night of August 31st, Hickey replied: “Listen to you laughing after she says ‘no’.”
While nothing is visible in either video, the woman is heard saying ‘no’ several times in a 30-second clip recorded in the car. A second video was recorded in the house.
The supporters who crowded into that courtroom today will doubtless be aware of this evidence. They must be aware that the videos made and shared by the men were key to the case made by the prosecution which led to all three being found guilty by a jury. How can they still claim that these rapists were “innocent”?
Common characteristics of rapists, experts say, include a lack of empathy, feelings of hostility towards women, and narcissism. The victim is dehumanised: and rapists often try to justify their actions, and to persuade others that the rape was actually consensual sex.
We’ve seen this claim made before – that we should believe it is “perfectly normal” for women to enjoy being treated like a piece of meat by multiple men in a night of group sex – and that this shouldn’t surprise or shock us in these more libidinous, less repressive times. Its sometimes how predators dress up and excuse their behaviour.
Only prudes, we’re also led to believe, would object to such unbridled fun on a night out – except that research has found that women who reported having a multiple-sexual-partner experience many, sometimes a majority, also reported being pressured, threatened or forced. The sexual revolution has definitely stoked a culture that is more aggressive and dangerous for women, one where – whether we like it or not – women need to be increasingly on their guard from predators.
Has that mainstreaming of what used to be considered uncommon male sexual behaviours – and they absolutely are preferences of men, as is much of what women are persuaded or forced to go along with under the pretence of sexual freedom – also led to a cultural shift where apologists for rapists, because that’s what those shouting in the courtroom yesterday are, are emboldened by relying on the porn-fueled supposition that woman are always ‘up for it all the time’, enjoy rough sex, and say no when they mean yes.
They should all be be ashamed of their disgusting behaviour, though shame, much like decency and restraint and respecting women, are doubtless all considered hopelessly antiquated virtues at this stage. At a previous hearing Justice Burns cleared the court of most of the men’s supporters as he didn’t want the victim or her family “feeling intimidated or overawed by the sheer number of people in the courtroom”.
During that previous sentence hearing, the woman said in her victim impact statement that the three men were “complete strangers” who “took advantage of me and used me and my body as if I was an object that they were entitled to”.
She spoke of suffering with anxiety, flashbacks and nightmares following the rapes – and said: “I know your faces now. And I will look at every single one of you when I say – this is your fault”.
“Every victim at one stage thinks it’s their fault. Why did I stay out?… Why could I not stay out to dance and get home safely?
“Because of you – you who waited and preyed and took advantage… You not only raped me, I found out during the trial you violated me in another way. You videoed raping me.
“You sent around these videos and laughed about me saying ‘no’. You laughed because you didn’t care, and you have shown no remorse from the second you entered into these courts.”
Yet, the supporters of the three men felt emboldened enough to shout out defiance of the jury’s decision and the judge’s sentences in court. Is that a reflection of a shifting culture, where rape can be excused away as men simply being out for a good time? Zolfaghari, who made the videos, told gardaí he made the recordings for a “laugh”.
Gang rape – not previously remotely common – seem to be increasingly appearing before the courts. Rape and sexual assault rates seem set on an inexorably upwards trend.
We need to push back. Anyone giving rapists the thumbs up should feel the public opprobrium they deserve. Monsters only exist because we allow them to.