Marriott Hotel Blames Woman for her own R*pe

[Delkaetre]

It happened back in 2006, but the court proceedings are still quite current. They have not apologised. They have shown no inclination to accept any blame or even make any goodwill gestures toward the woman, and have been quite callous and offensive in their behaviour.

Shakesville Link; contains links to news items on the case.

For those who don't want to follow the links, the gist of it is this-
A man had been hanging around the Stamford Marriott's car park for some days, with several complaints made to staff and no move apparently made to remove him from the premises.
A mother, buckling her children aged 3 and 5 into the car after their swimming lessons at the hotel's leisure centre, was attacked by this man. He held a gun to her back while she leant into the car, and demanded the contents of her pocketbook. He then forced her to strip and r*ped her in front of the kids, as well as threatening to sexually assault one of her children.
The Marriott hotel, in its response, claims that she "failed to exercise due care for her own safety and the safety of her children and proper use of her senses and facilities."
So apparently an unarmed woman with two very young children being threatened by an armed attacker should be able to chase him off, and if she doesn't this is her own failure to exercise due care.


Avoid Marriott hotels. There have been complaints (see in the thread following the linked article) of similar behaviour in relation to other sexual assault cases. It's clear they aren't too bothered by what happens to customers and staff, so you might want to use somewhere else.

[Saya]

Blaming her wasn't the only thing they did:

In the papers recently filed by the hotel in preparation for the April trial, the defense claims they hadn't been notified about Fricker, that the attack was beyond their control, and that the woman and her children didn't properly "mitigate their damages." The hotel has subpoenaed several people who know the woman but were not aware of the attack, including family members, friends, a Pilates instructor, tennis partners, and a baby sitter. Attorneys for the woman, who was only identified as Jane Doe in court documents, say the subpoenas identified her to those people and were only filed in an attempt to intimidate her.

http://jezebel.com/5336871/connectic...-and-negligent

There's a similar case at Carleton University where a woman sued after she was ***** while working, after students have been pushing to have better security and a **** crisis center (which the university still will not allow, according to students). The woman was blamed for not keeping a proper look out.

Cases like these just make me so angry. What were they supposed to do? Live their lives in fear of ****? Never go to the parking lot? Never feel safe at work?

[Delkaetre]

She's hardly the traditional "she deserved it" r*pe victim that certain elements like to pin blame on. It wasn't late at night, she wasn't drunk, and she was with her kids.
When they'll blame a mum with two young kids present for her own violent sexual assault in the middle of the day, gods only know what they'll say if a girl is actually attacked while wearing a short skirt and after having had a mojito or two with a few friends.

[Wrath]

Forgive me just because im female I deserve to be r@ped why? Well silly one because i have a v@gin@ and im there at the time.
I was drugged at a party once guess i deserved it because i wanted some water hu? Oh and lets not forget im female and was there.
This is vile and yet another reason humanity deserves to die.
People are stupid and ignorant. Disgusting.
I hope she bankrupts the Marriot....

[ShadowxMakerZ]

Originally Posted by Wrath

Forgive me just because im female I deserve to be r@ped why? Well silly one because i have a v@gin@ and im there at the time.
I was drugged at a party once guess i deserved it because i wanted some water hu? Oh and lets not forget im female and was there.
This is vile and yet another reason humanity deserves to die.
People are stupid and ignorant. Disgusting.
I hope she bankrupts the Marriot....

You've got a major point about this article and life in general.
People become so selfish when it comes to profitting and not making any lose in money that they don't give a Sh*t unless you pay them to keep watch.

They should all GTH

[viscus]

I realize that they're defending themselves in a lawsuit, but Marriott have to be pretty daft not to foresee the kind of PR fallout a statement like that would bring. Maybe something like "we did all we could" (even though they clearly didn't) would've been better.

[Saya]

Sort of good news everyone!

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The Marriott hotel chain on Monday abandoned its legal claim that a Connecticut woman ***** at gunpoint in a hotel parking garage, in front of her young children, had been careless and was partly at fault.

The withdrawal followed days of backlash against Bethesda, Md.-based Marriott International Inc., which had claimed in its defense of a lawsuit by the woman that she had "failed to exercise due care for her own safety and the safety of her children and proper use of her senses and facilities."

Her attacker is serving a 20-year prison term for the 2006 attack at the Stamford hotel.

The woman also accused Marriott in June of indirectly disclosing her and her children's identities by seeking subpoenas for her pilates instructor, friends and tennis partners, a house cleaner, and a baby sitter.

"This was done to expose the identities of the Doe family in their community so as to intimidate them from pursuing this case, pure and simple," attorneys Paul Slager and Ernest Teitell wrote in court papers.

Marriott attorney Donald Derrico said the company was trying to determine the effect of the crime on the victim and that subpoenas have not been issued. The hotel will decide whom to subpoena on a case-by-case basis, he said.

"Her name was never, ever, ever disclosed to anyone," Derrico said.

Marriott issued a statement Friday that it was "profoundly sorry that such a terrible thing happened to the victim of this violent crime" in its parking garage. The chain said the situation has "created a mistaken impression that Marriott lacks respect" for victims of violent crimes.

Critics said the blame-the-victim defense wasn't softened by the apology.

"I thought it was despicable, disgusting and all too common," said Jessica Mindlin, a national director for the Victim Rights Law Center in Boston. "It's like a second ****."

The defense claim was made before attorneys finished taking the victim's deposition, Derrico said, "so as not to waive a potential defense." He said that Marriott officials asked his law firm to withdraw the claim in July, but that his associate had not done so because his mother died.

"We're not accusing her of anything," Derrico said.

Court papers do not indicate how the hotel planned to argue that the woman was careless, and Derrico declined to elaborate.

Gary Fricker assaulted the 40-year-old woman in her minivan at the Marriott Hotel & Spa in October 2006 in Stamford in front of her children, both younger than 7. Fricker, 56, pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault, kidnapping, risk of injury to a minor and robbery.

Her attorney read a letter in court at the time in which she said frightening situations confront her every day.

"Right after the assault, I became a zombie," the woman wrote. "I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep, I couldn't think, I couldn't drive a car, I couldn't hold a conversation. I shut myself inside the house, spent a lot of time in the shower, first to wash myself clean and then later to have a place to cry freely, and I jumped every time the telephone rang."

Her lawsuit contends the hotel failed to take adequate security precautions, monitor the parking lot and train employees in basic security techniques. The hotel also should have known about other sexual assaults before her ****, according to the lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages.

The Associated Press generally does not name victims of sexual assault.

Women's advocates said Marriott's handling of the case is every **** victim's nightmare come true — and a major reason why **** remains one of the most underreported crimes, despite changes like shield laws that make a victim's sexual history irrelevant.

"The fear of being blamed for being ***** is one of the most common reasons that victims of sexual assault don't come forward," said Nancy Kushins, executive director of Connecticut Sexual Assault Crisis Services.

Defenses that blame the victim to some extent are not uncommon, as insurance companies try to minimize their losses. But Jim Nugent, chairman of the litigation section of the Connecticut Bar Association, said doing so in this case would be odd, given the especially horrific nature of a **** witnessed by the victim's children.

"It's just not going to sit well with a jury," Nugent said. "How in the world could this poor woman contribute to that?"

But I think the damage has been done, don't you think?

[ShadowxMakerZ]

The damage has been done, going to jail wouldn't be enough for her because it's only 20 years.... he'll be back... well at least they got him but they should of sentenced him for a lifetime in prison for what he had done especially in front of her kids. It could be possible they even won't forget what had happened that day to her. As if it might be nailed to their minds.


It's good news to know that they took action against this r*pe.