Supreme Court of Colombia condemns a man who raped his wife: sexuality is voluntary

The Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice ratified the sentence of 16 years and 7 months in prison against Elver Yonni Vivas Idrobo, who repeatedly raped his wife when he arrived at the house drunk, despite the fact that she objected and begged him not to.

The decision of the high court reiterated that it is not true that sexual relations are obligatory in marriage and insisted in that this link does not grant a right over the sexuality and freedom of women.

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When intimate contact is obtained with the clear refusal of the victim and/or resorting to intimidation or force, there is an impairment of their freedom to decide on their own sexuality

It is not true that sexual relations are obligatory in marriage, nor does this bond grant a right to women’s sexuality and freedom: #SalaPenal by ratifying the sentence against a man who sexually accessed a wife without consent.
➡️ https://t.co/7ZPOFBfZuk pic.twitter.com/KKnxfdioHp

– Supreme Court of Justice (@CorteSupremaJ) October 21, 2022

“It is not true that sexual relations are obligatory in marriage to the point of imposing conjugal duties on the woman that can subjugate her will and compel her to submit by coercion or force from her husband”says the error.

”The marriage bond or the couple relationship does not grant the man any right over the sexuality of the woman and when intimate contact is obtained with the clear refusal of the victim and/or resorting to intimidation or force, as occurred in this case, there is an affectation to their freedom to decide on their own sexuality, without the condition of spouse being able to diminish the content of the protected legal right of sexual freedom, which is protected with the same intensity if it is a married woman or as a couple, as happens with any other woman, ”says the ruling.

In fact, the judgment emphasizes that the “voluntary sexuality as a right not to give others the power to decide when they want to have intimate relationships, has been one of the foundations for the emancipation of womenr of patriarchal domination, so that they feel and are treated as equal members in modern society”.

The victim’s testimony

That day when he finished the sexual assault and angry because I resisted, because I implored, because I told him it hurt, because the girl was present… he got very angry, he took his gun out of the closet

“From the month of October 2011 I began to be raped, accessed violently by him. They were not once or twice, it was a repeated situation during… from October to April 2012″, the woman recounted in the process.

”On October 30, 2011, Yonny arrives in the morning. I was with the girl in the apartment. She started, as she had a couple of times before, to force me to have sex with him. On that occasion I resisted a bit, the girl also started cryingHe started hitting me on the back, telling him to please don’t hurt me. Her words said don’t bother mom,” she recounted.

”That day when he finished the sexual assault and angry because I resisted, because I asked him, because I implored him, because I told him that it hurt me, because the girl was present…sHe got very angry, took his gun out of the closet where we shared clothes, loaded it with a shot, left the room, closed the door and he went to the patio of the apartment, being there he fired the gun, of course I was very scared… When I returned to the room again he told me that the situation is difficult, that he feels bad. He reloads the gun with the bullets it had in it and lays down on the bed with the gun next to him and falls asleep,” the woman continued.

The victim said that since that day, faced with the threat with the weapon, the rapes continued to occur on weekends, the last time being on Sunday, April 15, 2012.

“That day I had a meeting, in the shower he sexually assaulted me in the presence of the girl, we got dressed, we changed, when I was going to go to work he came back, undressed me, forced me to be with him sexually,” he said.

For the Supreme Court of Justice it is clear that the man beat his wife physically and psychologically and violently and found that in this case there was a “systematic context of psychological coercion, the latent threat of the use of force, intimidation, generation of fear of violence and psychological oppression, everything is constituted by the so-called environment of coercion that structures the criminal type of violent carnal access”.

The high court gave full credibility to the woman’s testimony and indicated that its plausibility “is not affected by the fact that it has taken several months to request protection measures and report the facts.”

”It is reasonable that in the face of the insistent acts of sexual aggression, she maintained the illusion of rebuilding family life with her husband, as she narrated. Equally, nor is there a model of conduct to be followed imposed on women to define the moment of reporting the facts of which they are victims, based on their personal conditions, their educational level or the support of their family”, adds the ruling.

Source: Elcomercio

Ronald Payne

I, Ronald Payne, am a journalist and author who dedicated his life to telling the stories that need to be said. I have over 7 years of experience as a reporter and editor, covering everything from politics to business to crime.