46-year-old Houston doctor Shafeeq Sheikh lost his medical license and his job after raping a patient who was under sedation for a severe asthma attack.
People following the story also hoped that Sheikh would spend time behind bars for such a heinous offense.
But they clearly were unfamiliar with statistics for prosecution and sentencing of crimes against women.
Remember what happened to convicted rapist Brock Turner? Or a presidential candidate bragging about grabbing and kissing women without asking, then bragging about grabbing women "by the pussy"?
One got a slap on the wrist and the other got elected President.
According to Buzzfeed News, the incident took place in 2013 at Ben Taub General Hospital in Texas. The victim, identified only by local media as 'Laura,' went public with her story in 2015.
Sheikh came into her room and said he "needed to examine her chest." He then groped her breasts and touched her vagina before leaving the room only to return a second time and doing the same thing.
On his third time in her room, he raped her. Laura pushed a nurse's station call button only to receive no response. Laura was under sedation at the time and unable to defend herself or legally consent to sex.
After a rape kit and surveillance videos corroborated her story, Laura went to the police, only to have them take two years to arrest Sheikh. And now, a further three years later, Sheikh has been convicted for the rape, but will not serve any jail time.
After finding him guilty, the jurors recommended he only be sentenced to probation. Rape under Texas law is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
The lawyer and defendant personally attacked the victim by saying she "came onto him," citing her "fake boobs" as inciting Sheikh to rape her while she was under sedation and legally unable to consent to sex.
Sheikh's defense attorney argued:
"He made a mistake, but he didn't sexually assault her. Here we have this Latina woman with her fake boobs that came onto that little nerdy middle-aged guy, and he lost his mind."
It's disgusting to think—even though this convicted rapist can no longer practice medicine—he is still out in the world. And like Brock Turner, Shafeeq Sheikh remains convinced he did nothing wrong.
As long as Sheikh walks free, will any woman be safe around him?
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