- 26 Jan 2024 20:17
#15303001
Below are two stories about elderly men who were prosecuted for having sex with their long-time wives, despite the wives not objecting to the sex.
Why are some people calling it "rape"?
Because the elderly women developed mental decline, and allegedly they are no longer capable of "consent" to sexual intercourse. Analogous to a child.
In an Iowa courtroom, an astonishing case of sex and Alzheimer's
It was an unexpected second chance at love for Donna Lou Young and Henry Rayhons, both past 70 at the time of their wedding.
"They were two good people who were good together," the couple's pastor recalled.
After a four-year battle with Alzheimer’s, Donna Lou Rayhons died in a nursing home in August, just four days shy of her 79th birthday. A week later, Henry Rayhons was arrested and charged with sexual abuse. State prosecutors accused him of having sex with his wife while she was incapacitated by dementia.
Rayhons’s trial, which begins Wednesday, is a rare and possibly unprecedented examination of a little-explored aspect of consent. While much of the discussion about rape these days swirls around the influence of drugs, alcohol and the culture on college campuses, this case asks a much different question: When is a previously consenting spouse suffering from dementia no longer able to say yes to sex?
Katherine C. Pearson, who teaches and writes about elder law at Penn State’s Dickinson School of Law, said that this is the first case of its kind she’s seen in more than 20 years of working in the field. "This is maybe the last great frontier of questions about capacity and dementia," she said. "Any partner in a marriage has the right to say no. What we haven’t completely understood is, as in this case, at what point in dementia do you lose the right to say yes?"
Friends and family say that Donna Lou and Henry Rayhons, a member of the Iowa House of Representatives from 1997 until this year (2015), were besotted with one another throughout their relationship. She often accompanied him to the state Capitol in Des Moines. He bought her dresses and acquired a bee suit so he could join her in her beekeeping. "He treated her like a queen," Charity McCauley Andeweg, who clerked for Rayhons.
But a few years into their marriage, Donna was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s. She suffered headaches and forgetfulness, drove on the wrong side of the road and once put a single sock into the dryer instead of a full load of laundry.
On March 29, Donna was moved to Concord Care Center in Garner, Iowa, a five-minute drive from her home with Rayhons. Rayhons reportedly resisted the move and clashed with Donna’s daughters - both from her first marriage - over how she should be cared for at the facility.
In May, Dunshee and Donna’s other daughter, Suzan Brunes, met with Concord staff and drew up a care plan for Donna. At the meeting, the women and doctors concluded that Donna was no longer able to consent to sex, a fact Rayhons was informed of.
But a week later, on May 23, surveillance video showed Rayhons spending about 30 minutes in his wife’s room. When he left, he was holding her underwear, which he dropped into a laundry bag in the hallway.
Donna's roommate told nursing home staff that Rayhons had come into the room and closed a privacy curtain around his wife’s bed. She then heard noises indicating that Rayhons was having sex with Donna.
In an Iowa courtroom, an astonishing case of sex and Alzheimer's, by Sarah Kaplan, Washington Post, April 7, 2015
Another similar case:
UK man banned by judge from having sex with wife of 20 years
A British man may reportedly be barred from having sex with his wife of 20 years because social services bosses claim she no longer has the mental capacity to consent.
Officials told the Court of Protection in London - which specializes in cases involving people who lack the mental capacity to make decisions - the unidentified woman’s mental health has deteriorated to the point that she no longer has the ability to consent.
According to Sky News, the attorneys representing social services bosses are requesting the judge consider barring the woman’s husband from continuing to have sex with his wife to ensure she is not raped.
Judge Sir Anthony Hayden said the couple could not be identified in media reports, so it was not clear how old either the husband or wife is or what the wife's mental health issue is.
The man reportedly told the judge at a preliminary hearing that he would give his pledge not to have sex with his wife.
However, the judge suggested the man might be put in a situation where he could face prison if he breached the pledge or an order by the court. He added that such an order would be difficult to police.
"I cannot think of any more obviously fundamental human right than the right of a man to have sex with his wife -- and the right of the state to monitor that -- I think he is entitled to have it properly argued," Hayden said, according to Sky News.
https://www.foxnews.com/world/uk-judge- ... f-20-years
Why are some people calling it "rape"?
Because the elderly women developed mental decline, and allegedly they are no longer capable of "consent" to sexual intercourse. Analogous to a child.
In an Iowa courtroom, an astonishing case of sex and Alzheimer's
It was an unexpected second chance at love for Donna Lou Young and Henry Rayhons, both past 70 at the time of their wedding.
"They were two good people who were good together," the couple's pastor recalled.
After a four-year battle with Alzheimer’s, Donna Lou Rayhons died in a nursing home in August, just four days shy of her 79th birthday. A week later, Henry Rayhons was arrested and charged with sexual abuse. State prosecutors accused him of having sex with his wife while she was incapacitated by dementia.
Rayhons’s trial, which begins Wednesday, is a rare and possibly unprecedented examination of a little-explored aspect of consent. While much of the discussion about rape these days swirls around the influence of drugs, alcohol and the culture on college campuses, this case asks a much different question: When is a previously consenting spouse suffering from dementia no longer able to say yes to sex?
Katherine C. Pearson, who teaches and writes about elder law at Penn State’s Dickinson School of Law, said that this is the first case of its kind she’s seen in more than 20 years of working in the field. "This is maybe the last great frontier of questions about capacity and dementia," she said. "Any partner in a marriage has the right to say no. What we haven’t completely understood is, as in this case, at what point in dementia do you lose the right to say yes?"
Friends and family say that Donna Lou and Henry Rayhons, a member of the Iowa House of Representatives from 1997 until this year (2015), were besotted with one another throughout their relationship. She often accompanied him to the state Capitol in Des Moines. He bought her dresses and acquired a bee suit so he could join her in her beekeeping. "He treated her like a queen," Charity McCauley Andeweg, who clerked for Rayhons.
But a few years into their marriage, Donna was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s. She suffered headaches and forgetfulness, drove on the wrong side of the road and once put a single sock into the dryer instead of a full load of laundry.
On March 29, Donna was moved to Concord Care Center in Garner, Iowa, a five-minute drive from her home with Rayhons. Rayhons reportedly resisted the move and clashed with Donna’s daughters - both from her first marriage - over how she should be cared for at the facility.
In May, Dunshee and Donna’s other daughter, Suzan Brunes, met with Concord staff and drew up a care plan for Donna. At the meeting, the women and doctors concluded that Donna was no longer able to consent to sex, a fact Rayhons was informed of.
But a week later, on May 23, surveillance video showed Rayhons spending about 30 minutes in his wife’s room. When he left, he was holding her underwear, which he dropped into a laundry bag in the hallway.
Donna's roommate told nursing home staff that Rayhons had come into the room and closed a privacy curtain around his wife’s bed. She then heard noises indicating that Rayhons was having sex with Donna.
In an Iowa courtroom, an astonishing case of sex and Alzheimer's, by Sarah Kaplan, Washington Post, April 7, 2015
Another similar case:
UK man banned by judge from having sex with wife of 20 years
A British man may reportedly be barred from having sex with his wife of 20 years because social services bosses claim she no longer has the mental capacity to consent.
Officials told the Court of Protection in London - which specializes in cases involving people who lack the mental capacity to make decisions - the unidentified woman’s mental health has deteriorated to the point that she no longer has the ability to consent.
According to Sky News, the attorneys representing social services bosses are requesting the judge consider barring the woman’s husband from continuing to have sex with his wife to ensure she is not raped.
Judge Sir Anthony Hayden said the couple could not be identified in media reports, so it was not clear how old either the husband or wife is or what the wife's mental health issue is.
The man reportedly told the judge at a preliminary hearing that he would give his pledge not to have sex with his wife.
However, the judge suggested the man might be put in a situation where he could face prison if he breached the pledge or an order by the court. He added that such an order would be difficult to police.
"I cannot think of any more obviously fundamental human right than the right of a man to have sex with his wife -- and the right of the state to monitor that -- I think he is entitled to have it properly argued," Hayden said, according to Sky News.
https://www.foxnews.com/world/uk-judge- ... f-20-years
- By Saeko
- By Istanbuller