Norwegian woman convicted of raping a man
A 23-year-old Norwegian woman was sentenced to nine months in prison today after she was convicted of raping a man.
The Bergen district court also ordered the woman, whose name was withheld, to pay £3,370 in compensation to the man in what the Norwegian news media said was the first case of its kind in Norway.
According to court testimony, the January 2004 sexual assault took place when the 31-year-old man, whose name was also withheld, fell asleep on a sofa in the apartment the woman shared with her boyfriend.
In court, he testified that he woke up because the woman was performing oral sex on him. The woman at first denied any sexual contact, but later changed her story, admitting contact but claimed it was consensual.
The court said a legal amendment from 2000 defines such undesired sexual contact as rape, and it was being punished as such.
The man said the incident left him with insomnia and virtually no interest in sex. He also described it as a breach of trust between friends that crushed his faith in people.
The woman left court without comment, but her attorney, Per Magne Kristiansen, told the Norwegian news agency NTB that an appeal was likely.
