Description
A barrister who said 'I shouldn't laugh' after he raped his Tinder date shouted 'I didn't do it' from the dock as he was convicted of the attack and jailed.
Robin Jacobs, 39, was sentenced to four years in prison for carrying out the sexual attack for up to 30 seconds after the woman screamed at him to stop at his London flat in 2017, the Old Bailey heard.
The couple had been on two dates before the rape. After meeting for lunch at a date in September, the pair returned to Jacobs' flat and had consensual sex.
But Jacobs suddenly forced her to take part in a sex act, ignoring her screams to 'get out'.
He then told the woman, in her 30s, to 'come for a cuddle' and offered her paracetamol.
The lawyer, from Woodford, east London, has Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), meaning he struggles to read social signals.
He denied raping the woman and said he would have stopped immediately if she had told him to.
As he was convicted for rape, Jacobs yelled 'I didn't do it. I was telling the truth. Oh my God.' from the dock.
After gaining his composure, he thanked the judge for imposing the 'lowest possible sentence' and left the dock pinching the bridge of his nose.
Judge John Hillen told him: 'It gives the court no pleasure to sentence anyone to terms of imprisonment and in this particular case, with a man of good character, of exemplary character, a high standing in his profession, to have to sentence you as I must, and as you know I must, to a term of imprisonment is a sad event.
'I accept that your laughing was involuntary and that you, in an uncharacteristic selfish state of mind, were bemused by her reaction.
'That bemusement was caused by your belief that she consented.
'I am satisfied on your evidence that you did genuinely believe that your victim would consent.
'That belief was unreasonable, wholly unreasonable in the circumstances.'
On the day of the assault the pair went for a pizza then went back to Jacobs' home nearby for sex.
At one stage Jacobs told the victim to wait there before attempting a sex act without consent, the court heard.
He carried on for 20-30 seconds until she screamed 'get out' at him, at which point he stopped.
As the complainant lay on the bed in front of him Jacobs said 'It's not funny, I shouldn't laugh'.
He then chuckled to himself.
In her account to police the woman said she told him to stop twice and he didn't, she then screamed 'get off' and he stopped but he didn't move away.
She said: 'At that point I was just face down on the bed. I didn't know what to do with myself - I was in quite a lot of pain.
'And then he told himself twice that it wasn't funny, that he shouldn't laugh, not to laugh, and then after the second time he did laugh.
'And then he saw that I hadn't moved and then he sort of moved me across and sat down and said 'come for a cuddle' and I said no.
'I would say that [he used] a huge amount of force. It felt like what you would describe as a stabbing pain.
'It just wasn't stopping. I was still in pain when I went into work on Monday.'
Jollyon Robertson, who prosecuted Jacobs in the retrial, summarised an impact statement written by the complainant in which she detailed how the rape has affected her.
She felt 'a degree of humiliation' when Jacobs laughed just after the incident, the court heard.
Mr Robertson said: 'She mentions that she has had some counselling. She has also been on medication. She was off work for a period of two months.
'She felt that she had no control over her life and how her trust of people has been affected.'
Stephen Rose, defending, said Jacobs did not deliberately try to humiliate the complainant but that his laughter was the result of his then undiagnosed ASD.
Mr Rose described Jacobs' actions as 'a momentary mistake'.
He said: 'This is not a defendant who will trouble the court again.
'He is struggling and I have no doubt will struggle to understand, principally for reasons associated with his disability, the outcome of this case.'
After the incident Jacobs texted a friend, Stewart Wallis, about the incident, calling the victim's response 'a bit of an overreaction'.
Jacobs also texted: 'I just hope there's no trouble as a result. I apologised repeatedly when she was here.
A few days later, Jacobs wrote: 'I haven't been nicked yet, so that's good.
'If the police are after you, do they leave a message or raid you at 5am?'
Jacobs claimed he was confused about what had happened and that he was trying to 'fit in' with his 'laddish' behaviour, which he uses to 'navigate social interactions'.
The prosecution had suggested Jacobs' ASD does not impact his understanding of consent and his reasonable belief of consent in this case.
Giving evidence during the first trial the barrister insisted he would have stopped having sex immediately if the woman told him.
'I thought she was absolutely fine,' he said. 'I thought she knew what I was doing.'
Stephen Rose, defending, said: 'It is suggested you were not interested in whether she consented.'
Jacobs replied: 'It's not true. I am not a cruel, aggressive person. That is not what I'm like. It wasn't something for my own gratification as the phrase goes. No.'
Jurors heard how the complainant claimed Jacobs had joked during their first sexual encounter: 'It has been a while since I've forced myself into a girl'.
The barrister said he did not remember making that comment.
He said he understood 'in the narrow sense' that consent to one sexual act did not mean consent to another.
'Yes it's true to say in a literal way that just because you are consenting to one thing doesn't mean you are consenting to everything,' he said.
'But at the same time you form an impression of someone's character and someone's boundaries based on the sort of things you have done so far and the sort of things you tried.
'Based on everything I considered those boundaries to be wider in this instance.'
Jacobs denied that it was 'very unusual' for a woman to agree to such a sex act on the second sexual encounter but said: 'I've done it on first dates.'
During the first trial Fiona Ryan, prosecuting, suggested his remark to the complainant to 'hold steady' before he performed the sex act was 'no sort of warning at all'.
Jacobs replied: 'It had been perfectly adequate when I had done it on previous occasions with other partners.
'I don't agree that there was no warning.
'I can't tell you five years on exactly what was going through her head...but I think she knew what I was going to do and she was alright with it until she was hurt.'
He told the jury in the second trial: 'There was no thrusting. It was over pretty much as soon as it started.
Asked by his barrister Stephen Rose, if he raped the woman, Jacobs replied: 'No.'
Jacobs said they were having sex and the woman suddenly shrieked at him to 'get out!'
In his closing speech to the jury Mr Rose told jurors: 'This is about a short relationship back in 2017, starting on Tinder between two mature adults both, it seems, looking for love.
'I have no doubt that for some, if not all, of you, there have been parts of this trial that you've found distasteful to sit and listen to in the formality of this sort of setting.
'Mr Jacobs, a barrister in the middle of his career, [was] diagnosed with ASD, a discovery with profound implications for his life and important implications for this trial.
'And he discovers that in the contact of being accused of rape.
'To discover that at his stage in life is nothing short of devastating.
'He faces undoubtedly a very serious allegation and...his future is ultimately in your hands.'
The barrister specialises in educational law and had continued to practice since the incident, the court heard.
However the conviction means that the barrister is likely to 'never' work in his legal profession again.
Robin Jacobs was jailed for four years and must register as a sex offender for life.