THE Public Prosecution has appealed the court’s decision to acquit a man of charges of raping and abusing a mentally disabled woman.
Prosecutors earlier accused the 51-year-old Bahraini of sexually assaulting the 33-year-old Bahraini, whose mental age was determined to range from eight to 10. When a court-ordered psychiatric report stated that there was no way the defendant would have known that the woman was mentally disabled, the High Criminal Court cleared the defendant of all charges. Both the man and woman admitted to the relationship, although the defendant said he believed the relationship was between two consenting adults and did not notice any problems with his sexual partner.
The woman was evaluated by a specialised psychiatric committee which issued a comprehensive medical report, which concluded that she ‘suffered from a major mental deficit and had limited intellectual capabilities’.
The report added that ‘a regular individual without psychiatric expertise will not be able to find out that the 33-year-old was suffering from an obvious and permanent mental deficit. Therefore, the defendant wouldn’t have had the capability or knowledge to understand her inability to give consent’.
Despite the evaluation, the prosecution decided to contest the court’s decision at the Supreme Criminal Appeals Court. Appeals judges have summoned the alleged victim to give her testimony on July 10.
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