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.
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Abondo, M., Bouvet, R., Baert, A. et al. Sexual assault and MDMA: the distinction between consciousness and awareness when it comes to consent. Int J Legal Med 123, 155–156 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-008-0305-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-008-0305-8