From Iceland — The Supreme Court Made A Mistake In Assault Ruling

The Supreme Court Made A Mistake In Assault Ruling

Published February 14, 2013

Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee of Education and General Affairs, Björgvin G. Sigurðsson, has said that the Supreme Court made a mistake in making a recent controversial ruling, Vísir reports.
Trigger warning: sexual assault details are included in this article.
The Supreme Court had ruled recently that it was not to be considered sexual assault when a man inserted his fingers into the vagina and rectum of a woman while she was being attacked by a group of three men and one woman who had forced their way into her Hafnarfjörður home in December 2011. Four of five Supreme Court Justices (all men) ruled that this was not considered sexual assault as the one committing the assault did not seek sexual gratification from the act.
“The court should realise that an amazing understatement has been made,” said Björgvin. “Even though Members of Parliament aren’t eager to criticise the rulings of the court, we sometimes need to. And I think that the harsh reaction to this strange ruling from all directions has been natural and justifiable. At the same time it is good to see that there’s nothing specifically in the laws that we need to react to.”
The ruling caused much outrage, resulting in a protest in which members of the general public went about scrubbing the walls of the Supreme Court for their ‘filthy’ ruling.
Related:
Supreme Court Decision Confounds Common Sense

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