I wouldn’t object if the guy got life in prison. What he did was disgusting, and with his wife so near. She should get some kind of time too, for perjury, lying to help him.
They do in some places, like Texas, which is where this happened:
It was the jury that found Sheikh guilty, but recommended no prison time at all.
I wonder if they were swayed by the perp’s lawyer, who said this during closing arguments:
What a class act!
IMVHO the lifer should be reserved for more heinous crimes. Though his act technically qualifies as rape, it was not violent or premeditated (do these qualify as mitigating factors?) Besides the taxpayers would have to feed him for the next 40 years. And he’s anyways going to get deported on completion of the sentence, so rehab is not a concern.
Now if the victim were a minor I would totally agree a lifer is appropriate.
I am wondering if the wife will also be sentenced - it is amazing she did not notice her husband’s naughty business seated right next to him.
Let’s compromise. Deport him and his lying wife halfway back to India.
How can she be sentenced? Nothing in the story even mentioned her being charged. You have to be charged with a crime, and convicted of a crime, before you can be sentenced.
I’d add that this:
is a rather problematic formulation. I think that unwanted sexual contact, including penetration, is violent by definition. We also have no real way of knowing the extent to which it was or was not premeditated.
“Premeditation” does not require extensive planning or a long period of time. It only requires sufficient time to form intent, consider the consequences, and act. They sat together for a flight and he waited until she was asleep in hopes of getting away with it. That’s premeditated.
[emphasis mine]
He stuck something up her vagina without her consent. That’s rape.
Where did you read that she is white?
Do we know that she was awake? I mean, if he managed to get as far as he got before even the victim noticed, it doesn’t necessarily surprise me that the person on the other side of him could have been oblivious.
Lying about it to cover up for him afterwards is obviously a pretty sorry act, of course
I was premeditated. It was rape. This is precisely the kind of crime that deserves harsh punishment and long sentences. You seem to be as oblivious as this criminal’s wife in understanding that it is wrong to stick your finger in people uninvited–even if that other person is a second-class citizen, like a women.
Your thread title should be, “Bloke rapes sleeping passenger on flight…” Life in prison is not excessive.
Yes, it is excessive. By far.
For all those who think the this rapist should get less than life I want to ask, how many times have you been raped? Either by threat of violence, or when you were asleep or drugged?
What is a more reasonable sentence for rape, in your opinion?
I’ll just wait until the guy is actually sentenced before failing to be outraged at his sentence, thanks.
The article is behind a paywall for me but in principle I have no objection to this.
He’s not going to get a life sentence, reportorial hype not withstanding.
This deserves a flow chart. 
Once. Some might say twice.
Five to twenty years, in general. Rape is assault, not murder, and the sooner we stop aggrandizing it because it involves genitalia, it easier it will be for prosecutors to get convictions and victims to recover emotionally.
I’ve been assaulted a couple of times, too. Pain for pain, rape is worse.
Not disagreeing that the sentencing might be overly harsh but there is one sure-fire way to avoid it. Don’t break laws where the possible sentence is life.
…an even better solution: don’t have laws on the books that make it mandatory to put somebody behind bars for the rest of their natural life for growing three dozen marijuana plants in their backyard. Because any country that does allow that to happen is all sorts of fucked up. And its even more fucked up that it happens and nobody seems to care.