Woman raped live on Big Brother Africa

[emzie]

The sight of a blind-drunk young woman being assaulted by a Big Brother housemate in what may be the most public rape ever has turned the stomachs of millions of television viewers.

The incident, broadcast live by a pay-TV conglomerate across Africa, has prompted denunciations from the continent's great and good. Viewers have flooded newspapers and internet message boards with emails expressing undiluted outrage.

Many of the emails contain photo clips from the programme that appear to show Richard Bezuidenhout (left), a 24-year-old film student from Tanzania, assaulting Ofunneka Molokwu, a 29-year-old medical assistant from Nigeria.

M-Net, which airs the show have intervened. "There is no indication that she was unconscious at the time," said Joseph Hundah, an executive at M-Net.

However, viewers of the incident, which took place on Saturday afternoon after an extended drinking bout which ended in copious vomiting and apparent blackout for Molokwu, remain adamant about what they saw: Bezuidenhout lay down next to the comatose young woman and penetrated her vagina with his fingers. He carried on despite the pleas of another female housemate for him stop. Under the law in South Africa - where, on average, a woman is sexually assaulted every 40 seconds - such an act constitutes rape.

Bezuidenhout, who is married, finally desisted and went off to sit by himself while drunkenly sniffing his fingers. At this point the producers of the show did intervene, sending paramedics into the house and cutting the live feed.

Bezuindehout, defending his sexual behaviour in a show that has featured copious nudity, recently told his housemates, "Well, this is Africa."

The contest is due to reach a climax on November 11. But the $100,000 on offer to the winner may prove chump change compared to the settlement sought by Ofunneka (right) and her lawyers once she escapes the Big Brother bubble and views footage of her very public humiliation.

http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/index.php?storyID=9400

I'm just shocked that the producers A: didn't stop the feed. B: Didn't stop the actions. C: are deflecting that the woman 'wasn't unconscious'

I hope she takes the production company for all they have.

 

[Babbler]

But then alway the people in change of these shows are scumbags of the highest order.

 

[El_Machinae]

Makes me want to puke.

There's a lesson here for the younger people who're sometimes at parties with lots of drinking. If the person is slurring their speech, or has puked!, they cannot legally consent.

 

[mrt144]

please, puking and sex go hand in hand. you just need to expand your mind.

 

[Mirc]

If the person is slurring their speech, or has puked!, they cannot legally consent.

In what country is that?

 

[AL_DA_GREAT]

What I have allways said about africans and rape. In Sweden blacks are very overrated in the rape statistics.

 

[Pannonius]

Big Brother sucks! Big time!

 

[LucyDuke]

Aren't there laws in that area that make non-intervention a crime?

 

[Swedishguy]

It appears she was five years old when he was born. Excuse me.

 

[GoodEnoughForMe]

Bezuindehout, defending his sexual behaviour in a show that has featured copious nudity, recently told his housemates, "Well, this is Africa."

I don't know whether to laugh, cry, or puke. Probably all at once.

 

[amadeus]

It wouldn't be Johannesburg without one.

 

[woody60707]

Makes me want to puke.

There's a lesson here for the younger people who're sometimes at parties with lots of drinking. If the person is slurring their speech, or has puked!, they cannot legally consent.

what? i think ur being extreme here. because i've been raped a few times by your reasoning.

 

[JollyRoger]

It would have potentially killed a baby if someone had intervened.

 

[Mise]

I hope that guy is jailed...

 

[amadeus]

I hope that guy is jailed...

*whistles*

...depends on if he plans to donate some of his winnings to the ANC...

 

[mdwh]

There's a lesson here for the younger people who're sometimes at parties with lots of drinking. If the person is slurring their speech, or has puked!, they cannot legally consent.

This is a common rape myth, but in the UK at least they can. And a good thing too, otherwise every night vast numbers of people across the country would be raping each other.

That doesn't apply at all in this case, if she was just lying still and not giving any indication of consent. It would be rape whether or not she was drunk. I don't think it's helpful to compare something as disgusting as rape, to adults choosing to get drunk and then have sex.

 

[Aegis]

This sounds more like sexual assault, not rape.

 

[salty mud]

This sounds more like sexual assault, not rape.

From "Dictionary.com"

Rape - noun

1. the unlawful compelling of a woman through physical force or duress to have sexual intercourse.
2. any act of sexual intercourse that is forced upon a person.
3. statutory rape.
4. an act of plunder, violent seizure, or abuse; despoliation; violation: the rape of the countryside.
5. Archaic. the act of seizing and carrying off by force.
–verb (used with object) 6. to force to have sexual intercourse.
7. to plunder (a place); despoil.
8. to seize, take, or carry off by force.
–verb (used without object) 9. to commit rape.

It is arguably rape, but arguably assault.

 

[El_Machinae]

This is a common rape myth, but in the UK at least they can. And a good thing too, otherwise every night vast numbers of people across the country would be raping each other.

That doesn't apply at all in this case, if she was just lying still and not giving any indication of consent. It would be rape whether or not she was drunk. I don't think it's helpful to compare something as disgusting as rape, to adults choosing to get drunk and then have sex.

No, it's not a "common myth", it's the truth. You can't get consent if the person is sufficiently drunk.

Now, the next day, the person might not mind the drunken sex. It might be the start of a fling (especially if the people were jonesing for each other anyway). But, there was no consent. This means that if the person DOES mind (the next morning) that the sexual contact occured, then the law is quite willing to step in and ruin people's lives.

The laws have become quite harsh, because people were using the "but I was drunk too!" excuse too much. Plus, with roofies, the line had to be drawn. Just like with drunk driving, society has become harsher with holding you accountable for your actions.

 

[Aegis]

From "Dictionary.com"

Rape - noun

1. the unlawful compelling of a woman through physical force or duress to have sexual intercourse.
2. any act of sexual intercourse that is forced upon a person.
3. statutory rape.
4. an act of plunder, violent seizure, or abuse; despoliation; violation: the rape of the countryside.
5. Archaic. the act of seizing and carrying off by force.
–verb (used with object) 6. to force to have sexual intercourse.
7. to plunder (a place); despoil.
8. to seize, take, or carry off by force.
–verb (used without object) 9. to commit rape.

It is arguably rape, but arguably assault.

Fingering her constitutes sexual intercourse?

4, 5, 7 & 8 have no reference to sex and all the others reference intercourse. This is why I believe it is assault and not rape.