A woman was sentenced to four years in prison today after admitting she forced a man to have sex with her while he slept.
Tanya Lord, 41, was told by the judge that ‘there appears to be no distinction between this and the rape of a woman’.
The judge outlined how his ordeal has left the victim mentally scarred and suspicious of people, saying that “there is a repeated myth that men are less susceptible” to the effects of sexual assault.
He revealed that the victim has received help, continues to be prescribed medication for his mental health, does not trust people and feels alone unless he is with his children.
In an impact statement, the victim told the court, “I don’t wish this on anyone,” adding that “encourage anyone who has been abused to come forward.”
Tanya Lord (pictured), 41, was told by the judge that ‘there appears to be no distinction between this and the rape of a woman’
The judge outlined how his ordeal has left the victim mentally scarred and suspicious of people, saying that “there is a repeated myth that men are less susceptible” to the effects of sexual assault. Pictured: Craigavon Crown Court, Northern Ireland, where Lord was sentenced
Judge Lynch said that if the myth about male victims “is to be debunked, it can now be debunked by the contents of the victim impact statement I just read” and warned that “there is no distinction between male and female rape – the fact that a man being the victim makes it no less serious than the rape of a female victim’.
Lord, from Lancashire, who is a lesbian, had already pleaded guilty to the sexual assault at her home in Co Armagh at an earlier Craigavon Crown Court hearing.
She admitted that she arranged for a man to “have sexual activity with you, where your vagina was penetrated with his penis and he did not consent to the sexual activity, and you did not reasonably believe that he consented.”
The court heard how Lord forced the victim to have sex when they shared a bed at her home.
Prosecutor Joseph Murphy said the man had been drinking all day and met Lord after she finished work on June 23, 2020.
They went back to her house, had a few more drinks and some food, and then went to bed in shorts.
The victim believed that intercourse would not take place because he understood that Lord was a lesbian.
However, the prosecutor said the victim woke up in the early hours of the morning and “felt pain in his chest.”
He came to his senses and realized that his boxers had been pulled down to his knees, his penis was inside Lord, and she was “straddling him, bouncing up and down.”
He added that the victim pushed her off and pretended to be asleep.
The victim got up and went downstairs “to process what had happened.”
He pretended to be sleeping on the sofa when Lord brought down his clothes, but when she left the room, he got dressed and left the premises.
He then spoke to his mother and partner before reporting the incident to police.
He was taken to a rape research center, where he had to undergo an intimate examination, have swabs taken from his genitals and be interviewed on video by specialist detectives.
It was those swabs, the court heard, that helped form an “overwhelming case” against Lord, because although she claimed there had been no sexual contact at all, her full DNA profile was found on the victim’s penis .
When questioned, Lord “could not explain” why her DNA had been found on intimate swabs and more than two years after the incident, with repeated delays and postponements and an aborted trial, she finally pleaded guilty at the eleventh hour.
The prosecutor argued that the fact that the victim was asleep when attacked was an aggravating feature of the case.
Mr Murphy told the court he could not find a similar case in the UK.
“Basically this case involved a woman having sex with a man without his consent and there should be equality between male victims of sexual crimes and female victims,” he said. sexual assault than women.’
Defense attorney Michael Ward said Lord, who suffers from a personality disorder and poor mental health, has “expressed remorse for her offense and some awareness of the victim.”
“She understands the position she has put herself in and she expresses through me today her regret and apologies to the victim for the unfortunate and regrettable incident,” the lawyer said.
In addition to the four-year sentence, Lord was ordered to sign the police sex offenders register for the rest of her life.
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