Judge bans vulnerable woman from having sex as she lacks the ‘mental capacity’ to consent

By
Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 4:56 PM on 4th February 2012

A judge has banned an autistic woman with an IQ of 64 from having sexual intercourse on the grounds she does not fully understand she could say no to such actions.

Mr Justice Hedley said the 29-year-old lacks the mental capacity to consent to having sex, and made the order to protect her best interests.

He said she had to be protected from ‘potentially exploitative and damaging’ relations in the future, as she had already been involved in risky behaviour with people.

The case was heard the Court of Protection, which operates out of this anonymous looking building in north London

The case was heard the Court of Protection, which operates out of this anonymous looking building in north London

The order prevents the woman from having sex and also means anyone trying to have sex with her can be charged with sexual assault or rape.

Mr Justice Hedley said: ‘It is strange, but nevertheless true, that even the freedom to make unwise decisions is one that the court is required to guard and only to restrict if and when the best interests of (the woman) so require.’

The case was seen at the controversial Court of Protection, which was set up in 2007 to decide on medical
treatments for individuals judged by psychiatrists to lack mental
capacity.

It controls the
finances of some of Britain’s most vulnerable people, and the fund is
believed to run into several billions pounds.

The court has come under criticism for being secretive but it has insisted it is acting in the best interests of the individual concerned.

Justice Hedley is no stranger to very
difficult moral cases, last year he oversaw a case where a mother tried
have her 21-year-old daughter sterilised due to her ‘significant
learning difficulties’.

The bid was subsequently withdrawn.

He was also in charge of a case in
which a gay man and his lover took the lesbian mother of his children
and her partner to court for access rights.

He said the impact of the couples’ conflict on
the two sisters in the case, had caused at least one of them had suffered
significant emotional harm.

The Court of Protection

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