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A GERMAN COURT today convicted a reality TV star of falsely accusing two men of rape, capping a case that spurred a national campaign for tougher laws against sex crimes.
Gina-Lisa Lohfink, 29, was fined €20,000 by the court, after it found that she had wrongfully accused a footballer and a Berlin club employee of sexual assault in 2012.
“The court is convinced that these allegations are untrue,” said judge Antje Ebner.
Prosecutor Corina Goegge had accused the star of inventing the rape charges as well as “consciously misleading investigators”.
In a video that has been widely circulated online, Lohfink could be heard saying “no” and “stop” during the intercourse.
The crux of the case was whether she was objecting to sex or being filmed.
Activists said the case illustrated a too strict definition of rape in German penal law, which frames it as sexual consent obtained through violence or physical coercion or when the victim is incapacitated.
In July, the German parliament passed a landmark “no means no” rape law that explicitly covers cases in which a victim withheld consent but did not physically fight back.
Filming
It brings what critics call woefully lax legislation into line with that of many other developed countries.
Lohfink is a former competitor on reality TV show Germany’s Next Top Model.
Prosecutor Corinna Goegge said: “Ms Lohfink was not a victim of a sexual offence. She lied and deliberately misled investigators.”
The court found that the sex was consensual – and that Lohfink was saying “no” to filming of the sex. Lohfink insists she was raped.
“I’m not here to become famous,” she told the court in her final testimony, Tagesspiegel reported. “I didn’t want the sex, nor the filming.”
After the verdict was read out, she cried, “I don’t need to put myself through this” before storming from the courtroom.
Lohfink’s defence lawyer described the verdict as “a scandal”. Burkhard Benecken said he would discuss with her whether she had the strength for an appeal.
He was now concerned for all women who wanted to report a rape, he said.
One of the two men involved in the case pleaded guilty to a charge related to distributing videos showing the sex act.
Tabloid Bild reported the case as “a bitter setback” for Lohfink, and said the court’s verdict was greeted with boos from the public gallery.
Die Zeit, another news outlet, said the case showed “how disrespectfully we treat people, when it comes to the accusation of rape”. The case will stigmatise all parties in the long run, the paper said.
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So €20,000 is the price you pay for intentially attempting to ruin an innocent person’s life.
She should be facing jail time.
when a woman starts saying ‘no’ and ‘stop’ during sex, you should stop.
Filming yourself having sex and distributing it. Doesn’t sound very innocent to me.
Sorry I mean innocent of rape. These false accusations only belittle real rape claims and make victims worried about coming forward.
If her shouting ‘no’ and ‘stop’ in the context of what was going on at the time was actually an indication to stop having sex then he would have been found guilty of rape. I’m guessing there’s a lot more to the story.
Now there’s a novel thought Gunnarsahn. All your own work was it?
I have never understood how a woman who falsely accuses a man of rape is not brought before the courts herself, and is prosecuted for making false allegations. To wrongfully accuse a man of rape is easily one of the most heinous accusations that can be made against any man, not to mention destroying that man’s life. So while any man lawfully convicted of rape deserves everything he gets, likewise any girl proven to have made false allegations of rape deserves at the very least a custodial sentence.
she was…
>To wrongfully accuse a man of rape is easily one of the most heinous accusations that can be made against any man
Sure, but the rates of false accusation are so low, especially compared to the amount of rapes that do happen. Everyone gets so upset at the idea of someone being falsely accused of rape, but no one seems to get half as outraged at the act of rape itself, which is far more devastating.
The chap’s life is ruined either way as a result of the allegation. And there are many people who will believe a rape allegation regardless of verdict or evidence.
This topic is conversational nitroglycerine.
Anyone who tells you they know the stats about false rape accusations are talking through their hat. It’s simply not known. What is agreed however is that it significantly outweighs the false reporting of crime which floats at about 3%.
Rape is a very unique and in nature an especially heinous crime. These characteristics lend rape to being a very serious weapon against men or in the case of Section 4 Rape, everyone.
The motivational aspects to presenting authorities with an allegation of rape are numerous and what makes it especially dangerous is that a motivation is often personally emotional. Scorn and shame are often cited as reasons for false reporting.
As with all things, it is a double edged sword. Should false accusers be severely punished? Yes. Many say the prison term should equal the jeopardy they put their accused in, I tend to agree. The domino effect is, this puts true victims in a place of fear about reporting.
A basic tenet of criminal law is that we as a society should rather 10 guilty walk than one innocent be jailed.
On this note, many feminists, by virtue of their arguments concerning rape and the above mentioned domino effect, postulate that it’s better innocent men fry so as that at least a number of guilty will too. There is something very retributive in that and it’s a very dangerous train of thought to entertain.
Very very difficult subject. I think it requires a far more special place in our investigations and court systems.
If you say that the stats about false rape accusations are not known, how can you then state that they “significantly outweigh” the stats for false accusations of other crimes?
>What is agreed however is that it significantly outweighs the false reporting of crime which floats at about 3%.
Who agrees on that? As far as I’m aware the general consensus is that the rate of false rape accusation is the same as it is for other crimes.
>Many say the prison term should equal the jeopardy they put their accused in
Often amounting to a slap on the wrist in this country.
>The motivational aspects to presenting authorities with an allegation of rape are numerous
What on earth. It’s difficult enough for people (women AND men) who have been raped to go to the authorities because of attitudes like this. There are extremely few “benefits” to falsely accusing someone of rape, which is why the numbers are as low for this crime as they are for falsely reporting other crimes. Given the nature of the crime any allegations should of course be taken seriously, but everyone involved should remain anonymous until a final verdict is reached. No one’s life should be ruined because of a false accusation, but nobody should feel like they aren’t believe when they report being raped. 99 times out of 100 a person reporting a rape has been raped, and the amount of people who don’t report being raped is assumed to be staggeringly high, in part because they are afraid they won’t be believed, in part thanks to attitudes like yours.
So, to sum up: take the accusation seriously but keep all parties anonymous until the very end, so that in the unlikely event that the allegation is false, nobody’s name is ruined.
Veronica I can see you are impassioned and hopefully not personally affected by the atrocity of rape.
I’m not sure if you went to Law School but Criminal Law and Criminology, in particular Common Law Rape and Section 4 Rape were two areas I studied and wrote a great deal about which includes the study of rape in other Common Law and Civil Law jurisdictions. So I’m not just pulling this out of thin air.
Unlike your rebuttal which I believe may be entirely emotive assumption. Emotive evidence is as dangerous as a false allegation since it has no foundation but wide and damaging implications.
>99 times out of 100 a person reporting a rape has been raped.<
As stated before, everything is a double edged sword. The nature of rape from allegation to punishment lends itself to being used as a very convenient weapon. The main characteristics are that evidence is difficult to produce, testimony can be powerfully emotive for a jury and the circumstances of the incident are often unknown by the victim e.g a girl drinks to the point where she can't recall the night before and is feeling ashamed of a one night stand, the regret of which can be exacerbated by the chemical imbalance caused by alcohol and drugs, this is especially common for people in Ireland. The alleged victim may be scorned and seeking revenge, a common situation detailed (and I'm sorry to use the example but you won't love reading through case law) The Life of David Gale.
Any one of these factors combined or on their own, including many others make it a very unique example in law.
As for the output of a rape allegation, even if the accused is found to be innocent, he will be stigmatised due to the course of public prosecution. There are examples of accusers knowing their allegation will be found as fictitious but the desired pain inflicted on the previously accused far outweighs the leniency of their own punishment, if any at all.
I wanted to avoid being sarcastic about the leniency of sentencing in this country but you are indeed correct. It often amounts to a slap on the wrist.
An attitude like mine is one of truth. I have emphasised that rape is very unique and very difficult to handle and despite it's best efforts, jurisprudence has a long way to go on the matter. But without deep learning far greater than either of ours influencing legislators it causes more harm than good to the process.
@Sinead, for something to be agreed, it does not need to be known in fact. Expert opinion backed by methodical research and debate can be found as the basis for much of your everyday life. I don’t want to get into the science of it as lunch is nearly over but I urge you, do not let the tragedy and emotion surrounding this particular topic stop you from recognising that.
Assumptions without solid bases are very dangerous.
“The chap” are two guys. Plural. And they are far from ruined. Giving happily interviews on national television. She said “no” and said “stop”. There might have been not enough evidence for rape charges but to charge her?
It’s an emotive headline but we didn’t hear the evidence so we have to trust that the jury who did made the right call.
Germany does not use a jury of your peers, Maggie. It is closer to the Special Criminal Court. It’s a civil law country.
The guy she was having sex with should’ve stopped as soon as he heard those words and checked if she was okay. Has to be more to it .
There is more to it. This article ignores the specific reason that the German court decision was that the act was consensual and that the “no no no” related to the models disagreement with the filming of the act (a separate (& appalling) issue. Lazy or cynical journalism
Oh I don’t no about this one. How could you possibly make a distinction between what she was saying no too? There isn’t much in the article. I’m sure there was nore too it.
the poor wording of the previous offence in German criminal law
Yeah but what where the guys thinking? Even if it was the case she was saying no to filming. As soon as those words come out in that situation you stop and thats it.
> As soon as those words come out in that situation you stop and thats it.
Yes! Exactly!
Ridiculous. If someone consents to sex it’s obviously fine to withdraw that consent as soon as the other party starts doing something they don’t like.
#FreeChedEvans
They already did
Bout time.
He’s still appealing the conviction though isn’t he ?
German laws on sex are bizarre, age of consent is a bewildering 14 (albeit with conditions!), and you have to show you resisted to have any hope of a rape conviction. Medieval and archaic are our German friends who are always very keen to point out everyone’s else’s shortcomings.
“I’m guessing there’s more to the story.” Say the lads. I’m guessing she got raped and is now being prosecuted for it due to a loophole in German law.
But Germany still allows a consenting 21 year old to have sex with a consenting 14 year old, no matter what the 14 year old’s parents think, Google it if you dont believe it. Took me by surprise while checking for a friend who’s daughter (German) was in a “relationship” with a 21 year old (German). Shocking stuff.
Yeah its disgusting. A 25 year old I knew had a 14 year old Gf. She looked and acted 11. Disturbing to say the least.
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