You're not guilty of rape: Those skinny jeans were too tight to remove by yourself, jury rules



Tight-fitting: Skinny jeans like those worn by the alleged rape victim

A man was acquitted of rape today after a jury agreed his victim could not have been sexually assaulted while wearing skinny jeans.

Nicholas Gonzales, 23, told a court in Australia that sex with the 24-year-old woman was consensual, despite her claim he had ripped off her size six skinny jeans before the attack.

The Sydney jury sent a note to the judge during the trial asking for more information about 'how exactly Nick took off her jeans'.

The note from a jury member added: 'I doubt those kind of jeans can be removed without any sort of collaboration.'

The not guilty finding follows two other courts - in Seoul and Italy - dealing with the question of whether a woman wearing the tight-fitting jeans can be raped.

In the Seoul case in 2008, the court overturned a seven-year sentence of a man convicted of raping a woman wearing skinny jeans.

But in the same year an Italian court upheld a rape conviction, ruling that 'jeans cannot be compared to any type of chastity belt.'

Mr Gonzales, the Sydney court was told, had met his victim for drinks in April 2008 before going to his house to listen to music.

The woman said they had gone upstairs to his room so he could play his drums - but he had pushed her onto the bed and lay on top of her.

'I struggled to try to get up for a while and then he undid my jeans and he pulled them off,' she said, before adding that she was then raped.

Questioned by defence lawyer Paul Hogan, the woman said she weighed 42 kilograms (6.6 stone) and did not find it difficult to squeeze in and out of her jeans.

Mr Hogan said: 'I'm suggesting it's difficult for skinny jeans to be taken off by someone else unless the wearer's assisting, collaborating, consenting.' 'Ii would disagree,' the woman replied.

Miss Veronica Wensing, chairwoman of the National Association of Services Against Sexual Assault, told the Sydney Morning Herald that a woman's outfit should not be an issue in alleged rapes.

'Any piece of clothing can be removed with force,' she said.