Note: This article contains descriptions of allegations of sexual assault.
Slowthai has been found not guilty in a rape trial brought by two fans, BBC News reports. The British rapper and his friend Alex Blake-Walker faced three joint counts of rape, alleged by two women who told the court that the incident took place at one of their homes, in Oxford, after a Slowthai concert in the city in 2021. Slowthai, whose legal name is Tyron Kaymone Frampton, reportedly broke down in tears as the verdict was read. Blake-Walker was also cleared on the three joint rape counts, as well as a fourth count of sexual assault.
The prosecution attorney, Heather Stangoe, had said in opening statements that Slowthai and Blake-Walker first met the women before a 2021 show in Oxford and gave them VIP tickets. After the concert, the women, some of their friends, and a group including the two defendants went back to one of the women’s homes for a party. Once there, according to Stangoe, the women were “isolated from their friends” by Slowthai and Blake-Walker.
The prosecution alleged that, on a balcony-style roof of the property, the men made jokes while raping and sexually assaulting the women. (Slowthai and Blake-Walker denied the charges, saying all sexual activity had been consensual.) They allegedly “high-fived, discussed ‘tag teams,’ and contemplated swapping the girls,” Strangoe told the court, according to The Guardian. The second defendant told the court that Slowthai raped her twice with Blake-Walker’s encouragement. “I said stop to him,” she told police in a video interview a week after the events. “Slowthai was trying to pull my hair so I would continue. They were saying: ‘No it’s safe we’ll look after you, it’s safe with us.’ They were saying: ‘It’s so great, can’t believe this is happening,’ and fist-bumping each other.”
She told police that Slowthai pushed her against a wall and then to the floor before raping her. Asked why she did not tell him to stop, she replied, “I felt helpless, like my body was not my own.” When the women’s friends realized what was happening, Strangoe added, they told the men to stop, at which point Frampton allegedly jumped down from the roof and ran away.
The defense lawyers argued that all the sex was consensual. The “effect of celebrity,” said Slowthai’s defense attorney, Patrick Gibbs, can make people “enthusiastically do things they wouldn’t otherwise do.” BBC News reports that Slowthai told the court, “I know she was consenting, there wasn’t a question.… She was the one who initiated oral sex.” To the allegation of rape, he added, “It was 50/50. We were laughing, we were smiling, we were looking into each other’s eyes. It is just not true.” He admitted to fist-bumping Blake-Walker but denied they were spurring each other on. “We were both excited with what was happening,” he said.
In his closing remarks, Gibbs told the jury, “There’s all the difference in the world between being up for a good time, in a boyish and immature way, and forcing yourself upon someone against their will,” adding that, even if acquitted, Slowthai would be “canceled for the rest of time.”
Prosecution lawyer Strangoe told the jury, “This is not C.S.I, this is not an American drama—this is a case about real people and things that happened in real life.”
If you or someone you know has been affected by sexual assault, we encourage you to reach out for support:
RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline
https://rainn.org
1 800 656 HOPE (4673)
Crisis Text Line
SMS: Text “HELLO” or “HOLA” to 741-741
Source : Pitchfork
