After raping a woman in Manitoba, Canada, Kenneth Rhodes was given a miniscule sentence of two years probation, one-year surveillance and an apology letter to the woman he sexually abused.
The judge jokingly referred to Rhodes, who was never given his victim’s consent but argued sex was somehow implied when he raped her on the side of a highway in 2004, as a "clumsy Don Juan."
The judge, in his astounding victim blaming, sympathized with the idea that "sex was in the air" when the rapist met his victim in a bar despite the survivor's injuries and the fact she asked if her rapist was going to kill her.
These statements would imply that every woman who enters a bar is deserving of uninvited sexual assaults because she placed herself in an atmosphere that somehow induces sex.
Tell Attorney General Andrew Swan to not dismiss rape and put Kenneth Rhodes on trial!
We the undersigned believe that Kenneth Rhodes should face trial once again for rape.
Rhodes's initial judgment was not only sexist, but is in no way an example of justice.
By dismissing Rhodes' case you are sending the message that rape survivors should feel responsibility for their assaults, women should constantly be filled with fear and men should undermine consent to sex.
Please do not accept victim blame as a fair trial.
Thank you for taking our concerns into serious consideration.
