Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Cops claim Tory Justice Committee boss infers Hookers deserve it : Scottish Conservative’s Bill Aitken asks paper “Was rape victim a prostitute ?"

BilL Aitken MSPProstitutes deserve to be raped ? Scots Tory Bill Aitken MSP denies making comments over prostitutes & rape. BILL AITKEN MSP, the Scottish Conservative’s shadow Community Safety Minister and Convener of the Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee is reported to have suggested a rape victim in Glasgow “may have been a prostitute” in an interview with the Sunday Herald newspaper. The widely perceived inference from Mr Aitken’s comments as a Scottish Conservative MSP, an inference further echoed by Strathclyde Police Defectives quoted in the newspaper’s report, is that prostitutes may put themselves in a position where they deserve to be raped.

Challenged by the newspaper over what he said, Mr Aitken then proceeded to deny he had even made the comments until he was shown a transcript of the interview. (Nice to know the Convener of the Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee is an honest guy then – Ed)

The Sunday Herald further reported the Scottish Conservative’s current boss, Annabel Goldie, refused to condemn he Tory Party colleague for his remarks, and then apparently “turned and walked away.”

Mr Aitken, whose term as Holyrood’s Justice Committee Convener has seen the least active period of legislative reform for the justice system in Scotland since the Scottish Parliament was re-established in 1997, is no stranger to controversy across a wide range of issues, where to quote one example Mr Aitken praised shamed members of Scotland’s legal profession in the Parliament’s debating chamber.

While Mr Aitken debates the whys & wherefores of whether prostitutes deserve to be raped or not, then going onto deny he even made the remarks until being shown the evidence, his convener-ship of the Justice Committee may well be best remembered for its greasing through of the mangled Legal Services Bill after hundreds of amendments were ordered by the Law Society of Scotland.

Report from the Sunday Herald follows :

Fury as Tory MSP asks: was rape victim a prostitute?

Exclusive By Matthew Holehouse
13 Feb 2011

A leading Scottish Conservative MSP is under attack for suggesting the latest victim of rape in Glasgow may have been a prostitute.

Bill Aitken, shadow minister for community safety, apologised to the woman after making the comments in an interview with the Sunday Herald.

Aitken has been a District Court Judge, Justice of the Peace and is a Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Glasgow. He is also convenor of the Scottish Parliament’s justice committee – which helps formulates rape laws.

Police officers and women’s organisations reacted with outrage to his claims.

Detectives from Strathclyde Police are still hunting for three men of Middle Eastern appearance who dragged the 38-year-old woman off Renfield Street in the city centre and raped her in a lane as she headed home after a night out with friends just after midnight on Thursday. It is the fourth city-centre sex attack since Christmas. Police believe different gangs are responsible.

Asked to comment on the series of so-called “lane rapes”, Aitken said: “I really think we need to know a bit more about these. They are not always as they seem to be, put it that way.”

He disputed the location of the attack, and said: “If this woman was dragged halfway through the town then it just couldn’t possibly happen. So has nobody asked her what she was doing in Renfrew Lane?

“Somebody should be asking her what she was doing in Renfrew Lane. Did she go there with somebody? ... Now, Renfrew Lane is known as a place where things happen, put it that way.”

Asked to clarify, he said: “It’s an area where a lot of the hookers take their clients. Now that may not have happened in this case. But you know ... what was happening? There’s always a lot more to these city-centre rapes than meets the eye.”

Sandy Brindley, national co-ordinator of Rape Crisis Scotland, said Aitken’s comments were “an extraordinary response to an awful crime” which created “a culture where women are scared to come forward and report a rape”.

“We are shocked,” she said. “His attitude is completely out of step with what the law says and what we should be thinking as a society. For far too long there’s been the attitude if you are involved in prostitution you cannot be a victim of rape. Women who are raped need support, not a climate that’s asking blaming questions about what they were doing.”

Aitken also said a lot of rape allegations are falsely made by drunk women – but had no research to back this up: “The police say there’s a lot of drunken carry-ons that result in rape allegations which are subsequently dropped, put it that way,” he said.

He added: “I think there might be fear, if they are worried that somebody talks …and the word gets back to the boyfriend.”

When challenged on his comments by the Sunday Herald, Aitken denied making them until he read a transcript of the conversation. Asked whether there is a difference between the rape of women who work as prostitutes and those who don’t, he said: “Well, the prostitute has possibly put herself in a position of some vulnerability.”

Detectives in Glasgow were“incredulous”. One senior source said: “Is he saying she deserved it? It’s mind-boggling. How will that poor girl feel?”

Yesterday, Annabel Goldie, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, refused to condemn Aitken, but said she was “horrified” by the sex attack.

“Rape is an abhorrent crime for women, regardless of who the woman is,” she said.

Asked whether she would condemn Aitken, she said: “I’ve no further comment.” Asked whether she “stands by” Aitken, she turned and walked away.

SNP MSP Christina McElvie said: “These reported remarks go beyond the pale.”

Aitken’s comments came as police warned unaccompanied women about walking by night in Glasgow city centre and detectives appealed for witnesses to the “brazen” attack. Police have mounted extra patrols this weekend.

A fortnight ago two men dragged an woman aged 18 into a lane and raped her. In January a woman aged 35 was indecently assaulted and a 21-year old was attacked.

Aitken later issued a statement saying: “I did not intend to imply that the circumstances of any victim in any assault in any way lessens the horror or severity of the crime. I would have deep regret if that was portrayed as the case and apologise unreservedly to her, her family and friends for any such misconception.

“Rape, in every case, is an abhorrent violation and must always be prosecuted with the full vigour of the law.”

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Doubtless this loyal servant will will be welcomed with open arms by the Law Society of Scotland and invied to sit on various Committees, SLCC anyone?

Anonymous said...

Sounds like the tories will lose the prostitute vote! and Mr Aitken does seem to know quite a bit about those alleys in Glasgow according to the Sunday Herald story!