Arsenal Star Not Guilty

An Arsenal footballer has been cleared of raping and sexually assaulting a law student he met in a nightclub.

Goalkeeper Graham Stack was accused of attacking the 22-year-old in his Beckenham flat in south London in the early hours of September 1 last year.


Stack, 24, of Ruislip, north west London, was cleared of one count of rape and one count of sexual assault.

His friend and co-defendant Allan Smillie, 23, of Feltham, west London, was found not guilty of two counts of sexual assault.

During the trial, the woman told Croydon Crown Court that she was "out of it" after a night at Trap in London's West End, and had "absolutely no energy" to resist.

The court was told the footballer appeared naked and smiling in his spare bedroom and raped the woman while she was unwell.

She alleged she was saying "Get off me, get off" but the men totally ignored her.

The defence claimed the woman, from north London, was "up for it" and agreed to sex with both men.

The nine woman, three man jury was told the defendants were "pawns" in a game she "had invented to justify to herself what she did that night".

Stack was on loan to Millwall at the time of the alleged offence. He is currently playing for Reading.

Golddigger.... she's the girl who thinks football players are a soft touch.

I'm very surprised at you CTID. How could you possibly draw that conclusion from the fact that Stack was acquitted? Rape is a serious accusation and it's fair to say that were she a "golddigger" she'd have been rooted out by the police or the CPS (public prosecutor) long before the case went to court. Your comment belittles the woman's ordeal, irrespective of the final court outcome.

:ball: PP

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Plastic Paddy

I'm very surprised at you CTID. How could you possibly draw that conclusion from the fact that Stack was acquitted? Rape is a serious accusation and it's fair to say that were she a "golddigger" she'd have been rooted out by the police or the CPS (public prosecutor) long before the case went to court. Your comment belittles the woman's ordeal, irrespective of the final court outcome.

:ball: PP

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A few points :
1/ Rape is a very serious crime which causes untold damage to the victim for the rest of their lives. On the other hand it is also very a serious accusation, and being falsely accused of rape , is possibly a worse situation to be in than to be accused of murder. If the rape did take place I would wholeheartedly endorse the book if not an entire library thrown at the individuals concerned .

2/Had the jury found that she had gone through an ordeal of this nature there would have been at the very least a sexual assualt charge proferred against at least one of the two accused.

3/ She would have had a six figure contract from a Red Top tabloid had the verdict gone the other way.

4/ Football players are sometimes through their own actions sometimes not particularly susceptible to being preyed upon by unscrupulous people. Be it hangers on or women who will

5/ In general men and women of a certain age bracket do not understand the meaning of the word responsibility. They get ****ed do stuff , they then regret it in the morning and then expect someone else to carry the can for it whatever it might be.

Point 3 was what provoked my initial comment.

Fair enough; your elucidation sets out your position far more clearly and I mostly agree with you. That said, point 3 is still a value judgement on your part and I find it hard to believe that any woman would put herself through such an ordeal just for the prospect of payola from the Scum or their ilk.

:ball: PP

Well most with a brain would not but then not everyone in this country or cross channel is blessed with one.

There should be anonymity for both sides in rape cases. It would protect the victim from accusations of gold digging and their own character assassination, as well as protecting those wrongly accused/ cleared.

I suspected he hasn't been included as our no.3 keeper for a while due to this. I wonder will he figure in the next squad announcement.