WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT: Rapist Thomas Marechal highlighted his kinky sex preferences when he gave evidence in his own defence at the High Court in Livingston.
Source: Dailyrecord.co.uk
UK – LIVINGSTON – A self-confessed sadomasochist who claimed that spanking, biting and nipping a woman during sex was normal behaviour has been caged.
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Rapist Thomas Marechal highlighted his kinky sex preferences when he gave evidence in his own defence at the High Court in Livingston.
The 46-year-old claimed a mum he attempted to rape and another woman he raped while she was sleeping had both consented to sexual activity with him.
Marechal said he met the woman he spanked and tried to rape after she told him on social media that she shared his interest in BDSM (Bondage, Discipline or Dominance, Sadism and Masochism).
The sexual practices, brought to the attention of the wider public by the erotic romance novel 50 Shades of Grey and related movies, involve controlling behaviour and inflicting sometimes painful punishment
Marechal had denied assaulting the woman by seizing her chest, biting her on the neck, striking her buttocks and attempting to rape her.
After trial a jury convicted him of not only the sexual offence, but of engaging in a course of abusive behaviour towards her at an address in Fauldhouse, West Lothian, by shouting at her, calling her “crazy” and isolating her from her friends and family.
In addition, the jury found him guilty of raping a second woman on a previous occasion while she was asleep and incapable of giving or withholding consent.
Marechal was further convicted of behaving in an aggressive and abusive manner towards the rape victim, restricting her access to money, threatening to punch her and damaging doors and walls in her flat in Leith with his fists.
After listening to video recordings of both complainers giving evidence about what he had done to them, a jury at the High Court in Livingston returned majority verdicts finding him guilty as charged.
Marechal, of Seafield, West Lothian, committed the offences against the woman he raped between October 2010 and April 2013 and against the other woman, a mother of four, between April 2014 and June 2021.
Asked about BDSM being part of his relationship with the mother of four, Marechal said it sometimes involved smacking her on the buttocks.
He claimed that on the night of the alleged rape bid he was exhausted because he had been working from 4am at an airport shop then delivering meals for Just Eat until late in the evening.
He said: “I was exhausted. She was in bed and she asked me to have sex with her. I had a very low sex drive and it was impossible to have sex with her. She was initiating sex most of the time including on this occasion.”
Marechal, of Seafield, West Lothian, committed the offences against the woman he raped between October 2010 and April 2013 and against the other woman, a mother of four, between April 2014 and June 2021.
Asked about BDSM being part of his relationship with the mother of four, Marechal said it sometimes involved smacking her on the buttocks.
He claimed that on the night of the alleged rape bid he was exhausted because he had been working from 4am at an airport shop then delivering meals for Just Eat until late in the evening.
He said: “I was exhausted. She was in bed and she asked me to have sex with her. I had a very low sex drive and it was impossible to have sex with her. She was initiating sex most of the time including on this occasion.”
He admitted giving her a love bite on her neck but denied nipping her in a painful manner and claimed that other acts were “a normal part of BDSM”, adding: “She wanted that. She wanted something harder.”
Contradicting the complainer’s evidence he told the jury: “She was responding fine. She never asked me to stop during sex.”
He also said he was sure that she had not used her hands to push him away as she claimed.
He claimed he had made himself homeless to get away from both of the women following the breakdown of their relationships.
Following the jury’s majority verdicts, Judge Susan Craig remanded Marechal in custody pending the preparation of a criminal justice social work report into his background.
The report will include an assessment of the potential risk he poses to women and the public at large following his eventual release from prison.
She told Marechal, who is facing a significant custodial sentence, that his name would be added to the sex offenders register with immediate effect.
She said he would be told the length of time he would be subject to sex offender registration requirements when she sentences him at Livingston on 7 November.
She also informed him that Scottish Ministers would be notified of his convictions under laws to prevent sex offenders from working with vulnerable groups.
