Sleepwalking man cleared of rape

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blackdogdeek

Lifer
Mar 14, 2003
14,453
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searched for sleep, sleepwalking, rape.

text

Sleepwalking man cleared of rape
A man accused of three counts of rape has been cleared by a jury because he was sleepwalking.

James Bilton, 22, told York Crown Court that he could not remember the alleged attack at his flat on Hope Street, York, and must have been sleepwalking.

Mr Bilton told police he had walked in his sleep since the age of 13.

A sleep expert said Mr Bilton was one of only 1-2.5% of the adult population who suffered from the condition. Mr Bilton had denied all three charges.

During the trial, the court heard the victim knew Mr Bilton and had slept in his bed after a night out, while Mr Bilton slept on the sofa.

'Completely oblivious'

Later, the 22-year-old, who can not be named, claimed she woke to find her trousers had been taken off and Mr Bilton was assaulting her.

She denied consenting to sex.

Mr Bilton said he could only remember waking up after sticking to the leather sofa and was "completely oblivious" to what had allegedly happened, the court heard.

But he said he had a history of sleepwalking which ran in the family.

Sleep expert Dr Ishaad Ebrahim said people who are sleepwalking can carry out actions that they do when awake.

Sexsomnia diagnosis

And of the 1-2.5% of the adult population who suffer from the condition, 4% carry out sexual behaviour.

Mr Bilton's acquittal follows a similar case in Canada last month when Jan Luedecke, 33, was cleared of raping a woman after a judge ruled he was asleep at the time of the attack.

Mr Luedecke and the woman had gone to a party in 2003 where the woman fell asleep on the couch.

When she woke, she said she found him having sex with her.

He was charged with sexual assault but during his trial sleep experts testified that he suffered from sexsomnia - when a person has sex while they are still asleep.
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TallBill

TallBill

Lifer
Apr 29, 2001
46,017
62
91
yes, i too suffer from sexomnia, its a horrible affliction.

btw, did anyone else read Mr. Bilton as Bill Clinton after a quick scan?
 
M

mercanucaribe

Banned
Oct 20, 2004
9,763
1
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During the trial, the court heard the victim knew Mr Bilton and had slept in his bed after a night out, while Mr Bilton slept on the sofa.


WTF?
 
L

Lord Zado

Senior member
Jan 21, 2005
263
0
0
Just out of curiousity, do all of you hate him because you think he is lying or simply because of the action? Granted it's a horrible action and I feel for the girl, but if you knew with absolute certainty that he really was asleep and was not aware of his actions, could you really fault the guy?
 
B

blackdogdeek

Lifer
Mar 14, 2003
14,453
10
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Originally posted by: Lord Zado
Just out of curiousity, do all of you hate him because you think he is lying or simply because of the action? Granted it's a horrible action and I feel for the girl, but if you knew with absolute certainty that he really was asleep and was not aware of his actions, could you really fault the guy?
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at what point is his crime punishable?

what if he committed a homocide instead of a rape? would he only then be removed as a danger to society?
 
Baked

Baked

Lifer
Dec 28, 2004
36,052
17
81
Originally posted by: Lord Zado
Just out of curiousity, do all of you hate him because you think he is lying or simply because of the action? Granted it's a horrible action and I feel for the girl, but if you knew with absolute certainty that he really was asleep and was not aware of his actions, could you really fault the guy?
Click to expand...

No, just lots of experts who got paid to talk sh1t and screw up the justice system.
 
Phoenix86

Phoenix86

Lifer
May 21, 2003
14,644
10
81
Originally posted by: DrPizza
Anyone else believe that there are a lot of psychiatrists/psychologists who are full of ****?
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Perhaps, but I don't believe the condition to be completely unreal either.

So the questions becomes: if the condition is real, and he has it, what is his responsibility if any?

In blackdogdeek's example, there is a law for lesser forms of murder, like manslaughter, but not other crimes like rape...

edit: actually, there could be lesser forms of the crime charged, like perhaps some from of battery.
 
B

BriGy86

Diamond Member
Sep 10, 2004
4,537
1
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i don't think i would charge him with a full account of rape (just yet)

but i also wouldn't let him off scott free either

i would probably order him to get help with the condition and if some thing like this happened again he should be charged with both crimes
 
I

imported_LoKe

Lifer
Jun 4, 2005
19,723
1
0
I don't understand this...

I could simply rape some woman and claim I was asleep...Who in their right mind would believe that?
 
B

BriGy86

Diamond Member
Sep 10, 2004
4,537
1
91
Originally posted by: LoKe
I don't understand this...

I could simply rape some woman and claim I was asleep...Who in their right mind would believe that?
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its things like this that make it a hard decision, you could clam you were asleep, while on the flip side this girl could just be crying wolf (depending on the physical evidence)

its really sketchy
 
Vic

Vic

Elite Member
Jun 12, 2001
50,422
14,337
136
Originally posted by: blackdogdeek
Originally posted by: Lord Zado
Just out of curiousity, do all of you hate him because you think he is lying or simply because of the action? Granted it's a horrible action and I feel for the girl, but if you knew with absolute certainty that he really was asleep and was not aware of his actions, could you really fault the guy?
Click to expand...
at what point is his crime punishable?

what if he committed a homocide instead of a rape? would he only then be removed as a danger to society?
Click to expand...
Exactly.
 
L

Lord Zado

Senior member
Jan 21, 2005
263
0
0
Originally posted by: Vic
Originally posted by: blackdogdeek
Originally posted by: Lord Zado
Just out of curiousity, do all of you hate him because you think he is lying or simply because of the action? Granted it's a horrible action and I feel for the girl, but if you knew with absolute certainty that he really was asleep and was not aware of his actions, could you really fault the guy?
Click to expand...
at what point is his crime punishable?

what if he committed a homocide instead of a rape? would he only then be removed as a danger to society?
Click to expand...
Exactly.
Click to expand...

Well to be fair in this instance. The sleepwalking man managed to take off her pants and rape her while she was asleep! I don't know about you, but if someone started to take off my pants while sleeping, I would wake up. And if he truly was sleepwalking, she could've just woke him up or walked away. The whole thing sounds fishy to me.
 
DrPizza

DrPizza

Administrator Elite Member Goat Whisperer
Mar 5, 2001
49,601
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www.slatebrookfarm.com
I've seen people sleepwalk before.
I still don't believe this could have happened. It's not that hard to wake up someone who is sleepwalking.
They're very disoriented when you wake them, but that's about it.
 
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