Robin Jacobs: Lawyer accused of raping Tinder date defends himself saying she was ‘bawdy and flirtatious’
LONDON, UK: A 39-year-old lawyer, Robin Jacobs, has been accused of allegedly raping a woman, whom he met on the dating app Tinder in September 2017. However, the lawyer said, "She was forward, she was bawdy, she was flirtatious from the get go, it isn't a case of me initiating everything."
According to DailyMail, on the night of the incident, which was their third date, Jacobs and the woman met for pizza and wine at a restaurant in South Woodford before going to Jacobs' house where they engaged in consensual sex. However, the woman claimed that he ignored her screams while allegedly saying it to himself that "It’s not funny, I shouldn’t laugh" as she lay her face down on his bed. Talking at the Old Bailey, commonly reffered to the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, the lawyer said, "I thought that she probably would be up for [the sex act] but if she wasn't, there'd be ample opportunity for her to be able to tell me that she wasn't and then obviously I would stop."
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As stated by the outlet, the lawyer, who continued with the alleged sexual assault for almost 30 seconds after the woman screamed to stop, claimed that he "knew immediately there was a problem" after the woman shouted, "get off". Following this, the woman locked herself in the bathroom "for what felt like an eternity." After she came out of the toilet, he asked her, "are you going to report me?" and told jurors that he was concerned about the Bar Standards Board.
Jacobs, who met the woman before over a cup of tea and had exchanged "sexually suggestive" messages talking about their fantasy of a threesome, told in the court, "One of the themes in her account is that I'm the person who just initiates something and she's stood there in silence the whole time like some innocent bystander. That couldn't be further from the truth. There is no similarity with the girl on the screen to the girl I was dating. She was completely different, she was forward, she was bawdy, she was flirtatious from the get go, it isn't a case of me initiating everything."
Meanwhile, the woman, who was found to have a fresh laceration upon examination at a sexual assault clinic, told police officials, "[There was] no discussion, absolutely no warning, there was no touching, foreplay, warning. There was nothing."
Prosecutor Fiona Ray said that Jacobs' diagnosis, who has Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), "was not a significant factor in the issue under consideration." She said, "He was not misreading cues because of his autism. His autism didn’t have an impact on either his understanding of consent at that time. He says he has have several sexual partners [from whom] he had not sought explicit consent from. Maybe on this occasion, he thought he’d get another sort of no cheeky, not in there. Maybe he was surprised at a woman standing up for her bodily autonomy in such a decisive way." She further said, referring to the sexually explicit messages, "They enjoyed good communication about their wants and dislikes, so why not this?"
Jacobs, who has denied one count of rape and who will continue with the trial, also has a girlfriend, Gizella Simpson-Hayes, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Reserves and nurse advanced practitioner. She said, "I am currently in a relationship with Robin and have been for just over two years." She added, "He has never demonstrated any signs of physical violence nor anger or aggression and [he has] never reacted to a situation in an irrational manner since I’ve met him. He appears to have an innate fear of causing any offence to people."