A cricketer who thought he was “God’s gift to women” when he raped a woman during a WhatsApp game “Sexual Conquests” failed to void his belief.
24-year-old Alex Hepburn was detained for five years last April for assaulting the young woman in his Worcester apartment while fighting with a teammate to sleep with as many people as possible.
Hepburn, an Australian-born all-rounder from Worcestershire, is said to have been “enthusiastic” about the challenge and published the rules for the “stat chat” game with his teammate Joe Clarke on WhatsApp.
Judge Jim Tindal sentenced him last year and said to Hepburn, “You thought you were God’s gift to women. At that moment you saw her as a piece of meat, not a woman who is entitled to respect.”
The judge said former professional cricketer Alex Hepburn thought he was “God’s gift to women”.
The cricket player claimed that his WhatsApp messages should never be shown to the jury in his trial, arguing that his rape conviction should be overturned.
But Lord Burnett of Maldon, the Lord Chief Justice, who was sitting with Mr. Justice Sweeney and Mr. Justice Murray this morning, rejected the appeal and said the messages were key to explaining the case to the jury, as well as Belief in consent “
“The judge had made clear his reluctance to what the messages about these men’s attitudes toward women in general showed, simply sexual toys regardless of their feelings,” said Lord Burnett, noting that the jury had been properly told how they should evaluate the messages.
“The judge made it clear that the applicant was being prosecuted not for sexism but for rape and explained the relevance of the news.”
Hepburn was convicted of rape and acquitted of a second rape in his trial.
Hepburn played a game of sexual conquests with teammates (PA)
The court heard that the cricketers were on the first night of the game on April 1, 2017, when Mr. Clarke had consensual sex with the victim. Later the night the woman was asleep, Hepburn carried out the rape.
At first she thought Hepburn was Mr. Clarke, but backed away in horror when she realized what was going on.
The jury was shown a number of misogynistic messages between the cricketers, including one from Hepburn, which read: “I always withdrew the birds and raped them”.
Hepburn’s lawyer David Emanuel QC argued that the rape reference was “in jest” and the WhatsApp messages indicated that the cricketer was sexually promiscuous and unwilling to have sex with a woman without consent. The appellate judges rejected the lawsuit today.
Judge Jim Tindal sentenced Hepburn last year and called it a “miserable sexist game to gather as many sexual encounters as possible”. He added: “You probably thought it was bad behavior back then. In truth, it was bad sexism. “
The court dismissed Hepburn’s appeal earlier this morning on the grounds that the jury’s news should not have been submitted, and also on a second appeal that the judgments were inconsistent with the evidence.
.
