Three jailed for six years in landmark rape case

GUILTY (l-r), Rafal Seiget, Pawal Chudzicki and Oldhamer Michael Armitage

AN Oldhamer is one of three men jailed for six years for raping a woman in Lincoln who admitted she was so drunk she didn’t remember consenting.

Oldhamer Michael Armitage (42), and Rafal Segiet (40) and Pawal Chudzicki (47) from Lincoln, subjected their victim to a 20-hour ordeal in a Lincoln flat.

Their 23-year-old victim had drunk up to 12 vodka shots before leaving a city night club in October 2012. She met the men and took a taxi with them to a flat, where she continued to drink and was repeatedly assaulted.

Her family reported her missing and police found her at the flat the following evening, where the confused victim told officers she had been raped.

She admitted in Lincoln Crown Court that: “It could all have happened consensually. I don’t remember it.”

The trial began on January 5 but was suspended after Judge John Pini QC ruled there was insufficient evidence. The prosecution sought a ruling from the Court of Appeal, asking for mobile phone video footage taken by one of the defendants, and alcohol levels in the victim’s blood, to be taken into consideration. The Court of Appeal ruled in favour and the trial continued.

The prosecution said the victim was in a “barely responsive” state and so drunk she lacked the capacity to consent.

The landmark case means a victim’s inability to remember doesn’t mean consent was given.