Remember those four Vanderbilt football players who were dismissed from the team year before last for forcing sex on a female student ? Two of the accused are currently on trial and the details of the alleged incident continue to horrify us… According to NY Daily News reports : Brandon Vandenburg and Cory Batey are each charged with five counts of aggravated rape and two counts of aggravated sexual battery. Vandenburg also faces additional charges of tampering with evidence and unlawful photography. Four former players are accused of raping the unconscious female neuroscience student in June 2013, but two will testify in the case. Both defense attorneys warned jurors about the two other former players who are charged in the case: Brandon Banks and Jaborian “Tip” McKenzie are expected to testify against Vandenburg and Batey. Video appears to show Vandenburg carrying the victim from a car outside the building into the dorm, according to testimony from Vanderbilt University Police Lt. Donnie Harville. Players were apparently seen on video dragging the unconscious woman down the hall. They giggled, shot video and sent text messages while they sexually abused her in an assault that began in a hallway, the prosecutor alleged. Thurman described in explicit detail how one former player assaulted her with a water bottle while a teammate egged him on. The prosecutor said one of the players passed out condoms and assaulted her. And one of the former players urinated on her and made a racial statement, Thurman alleged. Three of the ex-players are black and one is white. The victim is white. Disgusting… Talk about adding insult to injury. The poor woman was raped AND urinated on! Batey and Vandenburg are blaming the school’s “culture of binge drinking and promiscuity” for their role in the incident. None of the accused were of legal drinking age at the time. “I think the proof will be very clear at the end of the trial that alcohol played a role in what happened in that dorm room,” Worrick Robinson, an attorney who represents Batey, told jurors. He said Batey was so drunk that he blacked out that night. Robinson also told jurors that there is no evidence of Batey’s DNA in the dorm room and no evidence of his fingerprints on a condom box. What do you think is an appropriate punishment for such a crime? It seems like this happens time and time again with young athletes — especially football. What is it about sports that seems to attract these situations? We send our prayers out to the victim. We hope she’s able to recover from the trauma of this. APImages
