Day Four Of The Steubenville Rape Trial: Victim ‘I Thought Everyone Would Blame Me’
Day four saw the Steubenville rape victim take the stand as she tried to answer questions about two nights she could barely remember that took place at three different locations on August 11 and 12. Please read the following with caution: Trigger Warning.
At one point, the victim broke down in tears, as well as her mother and a few other women in the courtroom when shown a photograph of herself, naked and unconscious, that she stated she couldn’t remember. She spoke of how she liked Trent Mays, one of the Big Red football players accused of raping her, and she wanted to hang out with him that night. She said she trusted him. She agreed that she did consume a lot of alcohol, vodka mixed with a blue convienence store slushy drink, drinks mixed with Smirnoff, a few beers, and after she left the party with Ma’lik Richmond and Mays she vaguely remembered at one point vomiting in the street. She stated this was all she could remember, until the next morning when she woke up naked in a strange house with three boys yelling at her. She said that was “very scary.” They told her what a “hassle” she was to take care of, and sent her on her way – minus her cell phone, shoes, jewelry and panties.
The victim said when she returned home she told her mother “I have no idea what happened to me” and after being sent texts and social media updates of photographs taken of her, naked and unconscious, and the infamous 12 minute video of Michael Nodianos laughing about how “raped she was” her mother and aunt took her to the hospital.
Doctors told her a rape kit wouldn’t show anything because of the amount of time between the assault and the hospital visit, the victim went to the hospital two days after the party. Both Mays and Richmond sent her numerous texts messages asking her to convince her parents not to press charges. They said they “didn’t rape her” and said they would “get in trouble for nothing” and Trent Mays even claimed Coach Reno Saccoccia told him that the boys did indeed rape the girl, either because of what he had heard or because he was familiar with the law in Ohio that states digital penetration is rape. Trent also texted ”This is the most pointless thing I’m going to get in trouble for. I should be thanked for taking care of you.”
The victim stated: ”Honestly, I was praying that everything I heard wasn’t true. … I thought everyone would blame me.”
Trent Mays tried to reassure the victim in another text message: “That was my semen on you, not urine.” He urged her to tell the people he didn’t do anything to her so he wouldn’t get kicked off the football team.
The young victim liked a football player so she wanted to go hang out with him at a party, get her drink on, maybe even date him. I think we all know what it’s like to be young and have a crush on a boy. Maybe she even wanted to have intercourse with him. I’m sure she probably wanted to make out with him. She liked him. She thought he liked her. She thought she could trust him, so she left with him, even though she was drunk and vomiting. Maybe she thought he would take care of her, and she would sober up and they would sit up all night kissing and talking. I’m just speculating here, I was a 16-year-old girl once and I know what that feels like, to like a boy, to want him to like you back. But instead of any of this happening, he raped her, and he let his friends do the same. He laughed as they videotaped her, when they took her pictures and posted them on social media, when his peers called her a “sloppy whore.” He let his best friend also stick his fingers inside of her, and ejaculate on her. None of these boys stopped each other. As Prosecutor Marianne Hemmeter said in opening and closing statements, they “treated her like a toy.”
Anonymous has had a strong and peaceful presence in the town since the trial began, standing by with signs supporting the victim and victims of rape.
The verdict in this case will be announced at ten this morning.
(Photo: Twitter/MissionNoLeash)
