On Sunday, a Miami Transit employee was seen taking a heavily intoxicated woman into a utility closet at the West Station and is suspected of raping her while inside. The 41-year-old, Carl Lee Wilt, appeared in court yesterday and was ordered to be held in jail without bond.
Unfortunately, one comment made by Miami-Dade County Judge Nushin Sayfie has us worried.
“This is why we shouldn’t let our kids go to Ultra — right here,” she said, slightly under her breath.
Excuse me?
We shouldn’t “let our kids go to Ultra” because they might be raped!?
I’m not usually one to point out victim blaming, but I’ve rarely seen a case of it so clear and brazen as Judge Sayfie’s comments yesterday. To say that a festival or an individual is responsible for the actions of another, especially an action such as rape, is irresponsible and downright rude in more than a few ways.
It is never okay to put the blame on a victim of rape or any other kind of physical or sexual abuse, and the fact that Judge Sayfie felt it was comfortable to conflate the act of going to a music festival and being raped so easily is cause for concern.
It is also not the fault of the music festival in any way shape or form, as the young woman was off of festival property at the time the attack occurred. And whether she was intoxicated from the day’s activities or not, that is still no excuse for Wilt’s actions.
The name of the Brazilian woman who was attacked has still not been released.
via Local 10
