'Caught up in the likes': Teenager stands accused of live-streaming friend’s brutal rape instead of stopping it
A teenager accused of recording the rape of her friend and broadcasting it on the internet was "caught up in the likes", a court in the US has heard.
The 18-year-old woman stands accused of not only failing to help her friend during an alleged rape attack but live-streaming the entire assault on the popular app Periscope according to authorities.
Marina Lonina, is now facing multiple charges as severe as the man accused of the actual rape attack, Raymond Gates.
Both Lonina and Gates have been charged with kidnapping, rape, sexual battery and pandering sexual matter involving a minor according to the NY Times.
On February 27, all three were gathered at a residence in Columbus where it's alleged Gates pinned the 17-year-old down.
According to authorities he then raped her as Lonina used Periscope, an app owned by Twitter, to live-stream the brutal attack.
“I have never seen a case such as this where you would actually live-stream a sexual assault,” Ron O’Brien, the Franklin County prosecutor told the NY Times.
The prosecutor’s office stated Lonina and the victim were friends from the same high school outside Columbus.
The pair met Mr. Gates for the first time while "hanging out" at a local shopping mall, the day before the alleged rape.
Gates then proposed meeting the next day.
According to the NY Times a friend of Lonina’s in another state saw the video and immediately contacted the authorities.
Mr. O’Brien, the prosecutor, said Lonina had apparently hoped that live-streaming the attack would "help to stop it", but that she became "enthralled by positive feedback online".
“She got caught up in the likes,” he told the NY Times.
Lonina’s lawyer has portrayed his client as the victim of a much older man, who bought the teenagers a bottle of vodka.
“You don’t want to lose track of the fact that she’s a high school student and she and her friend were clearly taken advantage of,” he stated.
Lonina told the police that she filmed the encounter to gather evidence of the attack.
Lonina’s lawyer, who has viewed the Periscope video, said his client made “substantial” efforts to thwart the attack, though he declined to specify them.
“She was swept up by the gravity of the situation,” her lawyer said.
“And as she immediately told the police, she was filming in order to preserve, not to embarrass or to shame or to titillate anybody.”
In an interview prosecutor O’Brien acknowledged that for roughly 10 seconds during the 10-minute video Lonina pulled the leg of the victim, who he said cried out during the attack saying “no,” “stop” and “help me.”
However it was apparently not clear though that she intended to help the victim, he said.
“For the most part she is just streaming it on the Periscope app and giggling and laughing,” Mr. O’Brien said.
Ms. Lonina failed to call 911, he added.
Both defendants pleaded not guilty on Friday.
News break – April 19
