Photo Credit: Alamy
A shocking case has emerged from St Albans Crown Court, where a soccer player stands accused of a rape crime. Michael Emery, 33, a reserve goalkeeper for Warrington Rylands FC, allegedly committed two acts of rape against a sleeping woman on the night of May 22, 2021. Emery, celebrating his team's non-league cup final victory at Wembley, invited the woman to his hotel room, where she initially engaged in consensual intercourse.
However, the situation took a dark turn when she awoke to find Emery assaulting her. The woman described the assaults as harrowing, stating, "I woke up to find Emery biting me 'really hard' on my left thigh and breast." Despite her protests, Emery allegedly proceeded to rape her twice throughout the night.
What makes this case even more disturbing is Emery's alleged actions after the assaults. The court heard that Emery took intimate photographs of the woman while she was asleep and distributed them to his teammates via WhatsApp. In one message, he asked, "Anyone want a go?" accompanied by a laughing emoji.
The prosecutor, Charlotte Newell KC, emphasized the severity of Emery's actions, stating, "Mr. Emery demonstrated his total disregard for the autonomy and consent of the woman by taking photographs of her naked without her knowledge and distributing them amongst his teammates." The woman, unaware of these photos being taken, was understandably horrified when she learned of their existence.
“She knew nothing of this and would never have consented to such pictures being taken. Having expressed the attitude towards victim was that one could ‘have a go’ whether she consented or not, Mr Emery did just that.
During the night, he woke her by biting her, saying that he wanted sex. She said she did not want to have sex but he went ahead regardless, putting his penis in her vagina. She went back to sleep and woke again to him biting her, she pretended to be asleep in the hope that he would desist, but he carried on again.” Newell said
Following the assaults, the woman confided in friends and sought medical attention, but initially hesitated to report the matter to the police due to concerns about rape conviction statistics. However, upon learning that Emery had shared the photos with others, she felt compelled to take action.
Emery, for his part, denies the allegations, claiming that the encounters were consensual. He maintains that the woman showed no signs of distress when she left his hotel room the following morning. However, the evidence presented in court paints a damning picture.
