01 May,2010 06:48 AM IST | | Agencies
Australia jury believes they cannot be taken off without woman's consent
Can a woman wearing skinny jeans be raped? Or are they so tight they can be taken off only with her consent? These are some of the questions a jury asked before acquitting a Sydney man of sexual assault.
Nicholas Gonzalez was accused of raping the 24-year-old as she consoled him about breaking up with one of her friends in April 2008.
The jury of six men and six women heard Gonzalez (23) had allegedly pushed the woman on to his bed, ripping off her size six skinny jeans and underpants before the attack.
In his defence, Gonzalez, a navy cook, said the sex was consensual.
During the trial the jury sent a note to the judge asking for more information about "how exactly Nick took off her jeans".
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"I doubt those kind of jeans can be removed without any sort of collaboration," the note read.
The woman had told the Sydney District Court she and Gonzalez had met for drinks before going to his home.
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She said they had gone to his room so he could play his drums. He had pushed her on to the bed, placing his torso on top of her.
"I struggled to try to get up for a while and ufffd then he undid my jeans and ufffd he pulled them off," she said, adding that he then raped her.
Under cross-examination, she said she weighed 42 kg and did not find it hard to squeeze in and out of her jeans.
Other cases
Courts in Italy and Korea have also grappled with the skinny jeans issue. In 2008 a Seoul court overturned the sentence of a man convicted of raping a woman wearing skinny jeans.
In the same year an Italian court upheld a rape conviction, ruling that "jeans cannot be compared to any type of chastity belt".
