Norway's Supreme Court has ruled that sentences can be lowered for rapes where the victims were asleep, according to Norwegian media reports. The court reportedly stated that while such rapes should still be considered serious sexual crimes, the penalty should normally be set lower than for rapes committed through violence or threats. A young man was previously sentenced to three years and two months in prison for raping a teenager while she slept, according to NTB.
The rape reportedly occurred after a party, and both were reportedly intoxicated. The Supreme Court has now reduced the sentence to one and a half years. The ruling could reportedly have significance for Marius Borg Høiby, who is accused of four cases of rape that allegedly occurred while the victims were asleep.
In a Norwegian context, sleep rape is defined as rape against a person who is sleeping, and according to legal practice, sleep is considered a state where one is unable to resist sexual intercourse.