American student and convicted rapist Brock Turner. Photo / AP
American student and convicted rapist Brock Turner. Photo / AP
New reports indicate that convicted Stanford University rapist Brock Turner may have taken photos of his victim's breasts during the assault, and sent them to friends.
Turner is a former Stanford swimming star who in March was found guilty of three counts of sexual assault.
On January 18, 2015, he raped a 22-year-old woman behind a garbage bin after a frat party, before two students cycling past tackled him and pinned him down until police arrived and arrested him.
Citing court documents, the Daily Mail writes that Turner received a message on his phone shortly after his arrest that read, "WHOS TIT IS THAT."
The message which came from Justin Buck (a member of Turner's swim team who was using the messaging app GroupMe), was referring to a photo that had already been deleted.
Detectives were unable to access the original photo sent by Turner. Pictures sent on GroupMe can be deleted by third parties. It is unclear who deleted the photograph.
Extraction from a court report.
Adding to speculation that Turner sent a photo of the victim's breasts is the testimony of one of the students who found him assaulting the woman that night. The witness told police that Turner was "standing over her with a cell phone" and that the phone "had a bright light pointed in the direction of the female."
The newly released police reports show that Turner lied to police about having no experience with drugs and alcohol before college. Prosecutors say the records show Turner was already an experienced drinker in high school, had routinely smoked marijuana and experimented with hard drugs including LSD, despite his statement. The documents also contain reports that Turner behaved in an "aggressive" and predatory way towards other women one week before the attack.
The previous weekend, Turner had approached two women at another party and left them "creeped out" by his behaviour.
In a statement made to detectives on June 25 2015, Stanford student Allison Harman and Kelly Moran said they had encountered Turner at a party on January 9.
"While on campus, they attended a party at the Kappa Alpha fraternity where Ms Moran was introduced to the Defendant," the report reads.
Reports say that Brock Turner behaved in an "aggressive" and predatory way towards other women one week before the attack. Photo / AP
"She described the Defendant as living in the same dormitory as Ms Harman and said they had mutual friends but were not close.
"She stated that during the party, she and Ms Harman were dancing on a table and the Defendant followed them onto the table.
"She described the Defendant as being flirtatious. He put his hat on her and she took it off. He then started to dance behind her and tried to turn her around to face him.
"She felt uncomfortable and tried to turn her body away so he would not be directly behind her. He became really 'touchy' and put his hands on her waist and stomach.
"He even put his hands on her upper thighs. She felt more and more uncomfortable and got down off the table.
"She said the Defendant 'creeped' her out because of his persistence."
The sister of Turner's victim also reported a similar "aggressive" experience, telling police that he had attempted to kiss her on the night of the rape.
In a statement, Turner had claimed to have been talking with and kissing the victim herself - a statement later labelled as 'lies' by prosecutor Alaleh Kianierci.
Writing to Judge Persky, she added: "Despite his lies that there was some sort of 'flirtation' between himself and [the victim's sister] both at trial and in his statement to probation, it was abundantly clear from Jane Doe 2's [the victim's sister] testimony that she was caught completely off guard by his multiple attempts to kiss her that night.
"She even had to get away from him after he grabbed her waist, and she alerted her friend Colleen to his behaviour".
Turner faced a maximum of 14 years in state prison but was last week sentenced to a highly controversial six months in a county jail and probation. He must also complete a sex offender management program and register as a convicted sex offender for the rest of his life.
