Italian man to spend 1 year in prison for raping woman on Amsterdam street on King's Day
The Amsterdam court sentenced Sirio S. to 18 months in prison, six months of which are conditionally suspended, for raping a woman on a busy Amsterdam street during the King’s Day celebrations in April. The Public Prosecution Service (OM) had recommended three years in prison against the 28-year-old Italian man.
During the King’s Day festivities in Amsterdam on April 26, bystanders noticed S. lying on top of a woman with his pants around his ankles between parked cars on Keizersgracht. After yelling at him failed to change the situation, a group of women pulled him off the barely conscious woman and called the police. A video of the incident was widely shared on social media.
The victim, a 36-year-old woman from Ireland, can’t remember what happened, but afterward told the authorities that she definitely did not want to have sex with S. on a busy street between parked cars. Footage gathered by the authorities shows that the woman was already unsteady on her feet when she encountered S. She was barely conscious when the other women pulled the man off her, and first responders took her to a hospital.
S. was arrested in Amsterdam, his place of residence, two days after the incident. During the trial, the man acknowledged his guilt and remorse. He said he should have realized that the woman didn’t want to have sex with him and blamed his failure to do so on his alcohol consumption. He also added that women, too, sometimes drink too much.
The OM argued that being under the influence of alcohol is not a mitigating circumstance in rape. S. had sex with someone who was incapable of deciding whether she wanted to or not. As the person performing the sexual acts, he was responsible for ensuring that his partner consented. He didn’t, so it’s rape, and that deserves a hefty sentence, the prosecutor said during the trial.
