Lawyers argued defendant suffered from rare sleep disorder involving individuals engaging in sex while unconscious
A 40-year-old strip club owner from Sydney, Australia, has been found not guilty of rape after his lawyers successfully argued he suffers from “sexsomnia.”
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Rowland had been accused of forcing non-consensual sex on a female friend at his apartment in August of 2022, after a night of drinking together. During the trial, counsel argued sexsomnia is a legitimate medical condition and that Rowland had been diagnosed with it by two medical specialists.
The jury was tasked with establishing whether or not Rowland was experiencing an episode of sexsomnia at the time of the alleged assault or if he had been awake and acting with intent.
After consideration of the evidence, the jury determined Rowland had not been aware of his actions and acquitted him.
The judge in the case affirmed that a jury should not assign guilt for a crime committed unconsciously. “We’re not about to punish people for acts that they have no lawful control over,” Judge John Pickering said.
This was certainly not the first criminal case involving the sexsomnia defence.
What happened to U.K. victim determined to be suffering sexsomnia when she was allegedly raped?
Under British law, a person is deemed not to have consented to sex if they were asleep when the sex occurred. On the flip side, the law also states a person is not guilty of rape if they had “reasonable belief” consent was given.
The case of Jade McCrossen-Nethercott started when she was out with friends one evening and eventually went with one of them to a flat. She said around 2 a.m., she curled up under a blanket on the sofa, fully clothed, and fell asleep. But then at 5 a.m. she says she woke up to find her underwear and pants off and her bra undone. She saw a man on the other side of the sofa and confronted him.
She says he responded: “I thought you were awake.”
Ultimately, McCrossen-Nethercott did not accept the prosecution service’s decision to close her case. Instead, she requested all the evidence and was shocked by the weight given to theories put forward by two sleep experts.
She then consulted her own expert at the London Sleep Centre, Dr. Irshaad Ebrahim. He said Jade’s case was the first he had seen where a complainant victim was deemed to have sexsomnia. In all the other rape cases he had encountered, it was the defendant claiming to have had an attack of sexsomnia.
Eventually, a chief crown prosecutor, independent of the CPS, reviewed the evidence and concluded the case should have gone to trial so the the sleep experts’ opinions and the defendant’s account could be challenged.
However, her case couldn’t be reopened, so she launched a civil action against the CPS instead.
What are the criminal trial challenges involving sexsomnia?
How do Canadian courts treat sexsomnia?
Sexsomnia has led either to retrials or findings of not criminally responsible (NCR) in Canada.
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