Citation

Abondo M, Bouvet R, Baert A, Morel I, Le Gueut M. Int. J. Legal Med. 2009; 123(2): 155-156.

Affiliation

Service de medecine legale, Centre Hospitalo-Universitaire, 2 rue Henri Le Guilloux, 35033, Rennes, France, marlene.abondo@chu-rennes.fr.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s00414-008-0305-8

PMID

19101717

Abstract

In France, the term chemical or drug-assisted submission is usually defined as the rendering of a person vulnerable by the surreptitious administration of an active substance with the purpose of prejudicing the person or his/her possessions. If the harm is sexual assault, establishing the victim's submission involves both proving that a dangerous substance was administered, providing material evidence of the infraction (the assault), i.e. the detection of traces in a physical examination and samples, and proving the absence of consent. We report the case of a woman who was sexually assaulted after having been surreptitiously administered methylenedioxymethamphetamine. In this special case, the woman remained in a state of vigilance (conscious) throughout, so there is doubt about whether or not she consented. In other words, the ability to consent is debatable.

Language: en