Jessica, Rabbit and the Media.

Donkeyâs years ago, or should that be hace años de burro, Ms Raccoon was hitchhiking along the Spanish coast, heading for Algeciras and the Tangier ferry. The coast road wasnât a solid line of hotels in those days, it was barren scrub land, the setting for many a Western Cowboys and Indians film. The occasional cut out black bull could be sighted on a distant hillside, iconic trademark of a Spanish sherry company. Apart from that â zilch. Especially cars. So I was grateful when a filthy old spanish lorry slowed to a stop and offered me a lift. The mono-toothed driver grinned at me and babbled away in Spanish. âMelones woppaâ seemed to crop up frequently in the conversation, I hadnât a clue what he meant â apart from the hand gestures that accompanied this phrase, which looked alarmingly like the universal hand diagram of a womanâs breasts.
I wasnât a complete idiot â I would never have hitchhiked in shorts, nor given any indication that I might be willing to engage in the âfree loveâ that was very much a part of every hopeful continental maleâs vocabulary in those heady days of 60s sexual freedom. I didnât like the turn this conversation was taking, so adopted a prim and proper deportment and stared resolutely out of the window, hoping to make plain that there was no hope of any hanky-panky with me.
Yet still, âMelones woppaâ seemed to be in every sentence, and he was growing more agitated by the minute, gesturing from me to himself and back again, nodding enthusiastically. I looked as stern and unwelcoming as I could. We hadnât passed another car for half an hour or more, nor sight of a house. Tricky. Suddenly he swung onto a dusty lay-by. One of those âOh shitâ moments in life. I swung my ruck-sack in front of me and contemplated my options. Non existent.
He swung himself down from his driverâs seat and walked to the back of the lorry. After an interminable few minutes, he reappeared beside the passenger door carrying a large piece of tarpaulin which he laid on the dusty verge and motioned to me to get out of the cab pointing at the tarpaulin. âThoughtful Pal, but no diceâ I said to myself, and hugged the rucksack tighter. He shrugged and disappeared again, this time returning with a length of rope and waving a foot long knife that glinted in the sun. Still motioning me to step down onto the tarpaulin. The âOh shitâ moment was turning into âOh my Godfathersâ.
âMelones woppaâ he said over and over again with a pleading gesture. He looked quite desperate. I was sure that any moment he would tug open the passenger door, and that would be it. The only thing I could think of was trying to hit him over the head with my rucksack. The minutes ticked away, with me hoping against hope that another car would appear on the road and I could make a run for it â when he tapped on the window yet again â with the knifeâ¦and gesturedâ¦
Toward the tarpaulin, where he had laid out a picnic of the biggest water melons I have ever seen. That was the load that had been secured under the tarpaulin, and the poor man had been trying to explain to me for an hour or more that I was welcome to join him for a refreshing lunch on our long journey. He was totally harmless!
I was reminded of this prime example of the dangers of making assumptions about intentions when I read of the tale of Jessica Davies. Jessica has been heavily featured in the Sky news for the past 24 hours, held up to all who only listen with half an ear as an example of the dangers facing young women from â men. Specifically Indian men, since that is a key word that the media are very fond of at the moment.
Jessica apparently âjumpedâ from a âsecond floor balconyâ to escape certain ârape and murderâ at the hands of an Indian male, who everybody knows these days, is just a rapist waiting to offend. We are treated to the sight of Jessica being comprehensively assisted to hobble her way along the road, still suffering from the injuries she incurred in this heroic fashion. She is walking with considerably more difficulty than the earlier footage of her being helped across a road by an Indian police officer. I guess the bruising got more painful as the days went by? Jessica tells her story to âsave other young womenâ from a similar fate.
Except there are some odd features about this story.
According to Sky, (and Jessica on Sky) she âjumped from a second floor windowâ â around 25â² on average â no wonder the poor girl needs so much help to walk, she is lucky she didnât break her back or worse.
âI knew there was no other choice at that point, apart from to jump from the balcony, which I did,â said Ms Davies, who injured her leg as she leapt from the second to the ground floor.
By the time this tale reached Australia, Jessica had jumped from a third floor balcony. Obviously Australians need a bit of extra oomph in their stories.
But according to the Agra police, that might be a slight leap of imagination.
âSupt Dubey said the woman climbed out on to her balcony on the second floor, climbed down a drain pipe to the first floor and then jumped to the ground.â
You might wonder why she jumped, since the substantial drain pipe had conveyed her so well from second to first floor, and obviously continues its journey to the groundâ¦.Still a remarkably agile feat, but not quite as dramatic. She did this because:
She then realised her balcony door was not secure and that the manager, who was later joined by a second man, could access her room that way.
So were her two potential rapists planning to jump the two floors to arrive at the balcony door?
The men did have some remarkable properties, for Jessica had already locked (and bolted and barricaded the door with furniture), yet:
âI held my key in the lock and I could feel them turning it from the other side,â she told BBC in an interview.
Now was this some sort of double ended key, or perhaps he was turning the other end of the key with mole grips? We should be told.
Jessica had earlier enlisted the assistance of the man concerned to book a taxi and a train journey to Jaipur for early the next morning. She was expecting to leave at 5am. The âattackâ (or rather the persistent knocking on the door offering a free Indian head massage) happened at 3.45. It lasted for 45 minutes according to Jessicaâs account of her âdramatic escapeâ. Yet it was 5am, half an hour after the âattackâ ceased, that Jessica took her mad dash out of the window?
âHe knocked on the door and said it was her wake up call and he had a free hair massage service,â Supt Dubey said.
âHe consistently knocked and she took fright and bolted.â
âShe told us he was molesting her by offering this free service,â Supt Dubey said.
No wonder Sky havenât chosen to interview Supt. Dubey, you couldnât make a world news item out of a man persistently offering an Indian head massageâ¦â¦
But a pretty English girl with a dramatic tale of jumping 25â² to escape certain death and desecration, now that is a different matter. Especially when we have the very real and gory tale of an Indian girl raped and disemboweled to remind us of what absolute animals Indian men areâ¦cor, just look at the picture of him, enough to give any fair maiden nightmares for a week. Just when you have got old enough not to have to worry about paedophiles any longer, along comes another folk-devil to make you shiver in your stilettos. The bleary eyed Indian rapist!
Sachin Johan, the hotel manager, and Laxman, the hapless security guard who had come along to find out what all the shouting was about, will be held in prison for at least six months before trail. A trial at which they risk up to seven years in jail for âsexual harassmentâ. who knows, who cares, what will happen to their family whilst they wait to hear their fate. We do know that Jessica is âbeing supportedâ after her terrible ordeal, now that she is safely back in a decent country that keeps its men in fear of their livesâ¦..
In the present hysterical climate of violence against women, I donât fancy their chances of a fair trial. Wot with half a days growth of beard and blood-shot eyes? Good God no. Especially not with Jessica rabbiting away.
He even âsmelt of beerâ. Well, thatâs him done for. No âstale cigarettesâ?
March 25, 2013 at 23:17
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â¦the biggest water melons I have ever seen.
Something off colour in this story. In Spanish âmelonesâ means cantaloupes
and the word for watermelon is âsandiaâ.
March 26, 2013 at 07:27
March 26, 2013 at 12:27
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And I suspect âWoppaâ would indicate âGuapaâ â beautiful water melonsâ¦
Good thing you didnât whap him over the head as being bunged in the dungeons
back then would be no funâ¦
March 26, 2013 at 12:33
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Guapa melones certainly offers some striking Spanish googliesâ¦â¦.
Surely the point here is that Senor Onetooth offered the lone girlie
tourist some water-melon, whatever we might think he was blathering on
about as he drove? Judge people by what they do is my motto.
March 26, 2013 at 14:21
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Never let detail spoil a good story âWhen I have lived or travelled
abroad I have always imputed the worst of motives when people canât speak
the Queenâs English and start to gesticulate and I am male and built like
a brick outhouse.
Off topic but sentencing in the Andrade case took place today and the
debate on this forum about the Andrade case was one that elicited much
reponse. Sentencing in the Andrade case might be suitable topic I hope for
our landlady of the Raccoon Arms to raise if she is minded to
March 25, 2013 at 22:21
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Hereâs some info on the Black Bulls for Osborne Brandy. Great ad campaign
though! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_bull
March 25, 2013 at 21:39
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Hate to be pedantic, but my memory tells me the cut-out Black Bulls were
advertising Osborno Brandy (which if my taste buds memory serves me correctly
could have doubled up as a more effective paint stripper than anything
marketed by polyclens!)
March 25, 2013 at 21:02
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Iâm not so sure the story is hogwash. If he was really just trying to wake
her for her train, then he would surely have given up as soon as he knew she
was awake and functioning, enough to actually stop him from entering the door?
All he needed to do was tell her the time and F.O. Job done. That he still
tried to get access to her room for a prolonged period would have made ME
worried, and I donât scare easily.
Why on earth would anyone want a head
massage at 4 in the morning?
I also find his lawyerâs defence curious.
Apparently, she is part of a plot to stop people visiting Agra.
However, being banged up for six months while they decide what to do is
over the top.
March 25, 2013 at 23:07
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@ being banged up for six months while they decide what to do is over the
top. @
The hapless (or do I mean hopeless) Wifred Death has been metaphorically
banged up for pretty much that amount of time
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/wilfred-death-groping-charge-against-1785143
We seem to have taught the Indians all we knewâ¦â¦â¦
March 26, 2013 at 01:20
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If India even begins to mirror British Common Law, then they must
recognize habeas corpus. My grandfather testified in favor of the
Untouchables in the Poona Pact Ghandi wasnât all that when it came to
civil rights. https://www.google.com/search?q=poona+pact&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a.
My motherâs family lived there for about 35 years. My parents met on a
hospital ship out of India in 1946.
âHead massageâ at 4 am? Yes, weird.
We had an unfortunate Japanese tourist â young â murdered at one of our
less-reputable downtown hotels in LA recently. Her body was ultimately
discovered in one of the water-tanks. It took them ten days to find her.
What her remains did to the water supply in the hotel you can imagine.
Now, the story has vanished.
Moral of the story â when traveling alone these days, make sure you
have someone tracking you, i.e. âIf I donât call you by 11 pm, contact my
hotel and have them call the police.â I did it when I was driving back
from Nashville in 1998. I was delayed on the road on the first leg from
Nashville to Fort Smith, Arkansas. I was relieved to check into my motel
in Fort Smith, to be told that they were on alert because my tracker had
called them. I was driving a 12â² fully-loaded truck, with my car on a
trailer â so weâre a pretty big rig. Let alone three cats in carriers on
the front seat.
India is not the Exotic Marigold Hotel.
March 26, 2013 at 10:16
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@Moor larkin
So Deâath case has been dropped â âinsufficient
evidence to proceedâ â now where have I heard that line before ! Itâll be
interesting to see how many more cases are dropped â thereâs gonna be some
law suits going on here â bring it on !
March 26, 2013 at 12:04
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Not exactly; the âelderly actressâ who did the jâaccuse doesnât want
to testify because sheâd be on her own in court apparently, and this
withdrawal is her right.
I wonder if Death even knows for sure who it is. Heâs blaming the
police and Jimmy Savile it seemsâ¦â¦..
Too
chickenshit to go for the real authors of his misfortune obviously.
March
26, 2013 at 13:21
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Yep â and Jimmyâs âvictimsâ are getting younger according to
âdeathâ the guy himself is the âauthorâ of his own âmisfortuneâ for
agreeing to go on that shitty program in the first place. As Jim said
to Louis â âNextâ ! (SMILEY FACE)
March 25, 2013 at 20:15
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Iâm guessing Anna had noticed the events of this story go back a whole
week.
http://fox4kc.com/2013/03/19/woman-jumps-from-hotel-balcony-to-escape-attempted-rape-in-india/
âA
hotel owner in the tourist city of Agra, India, was arrested Tuesday on
charges of attempted rape of a British female tourist, Agra District Police
Chief Subhash Dubey told CNN. Authorities say the woman, who was traveling
alone, jumped from the balcony of her hotel room to the next floor to escape
the hotel owner, who is accused of trying to enter her room repeatedly. The
woman has no injuries from her jump.â
I guess the local police might have naturally wanted to keep the story
quiet.
March 25, 2013 at 19:03
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The only reason to be in Agra is to see the Taj, which is a tourist
nightmare these days anyway. This is all very peculiar indeed. And if she
tries to involve Duncroft, I throw my hands up. Enough already!
March 25, 2013 at 19:40
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Mewsical â stop worrying â that post was supposed to be a joke ! but hey,
anythingâs possible in this story !
March 25, 2013 at 18:48
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Guiltyâ¦
After all, heâs a bloke innit!
March 25, 2013 at 18:44
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What a very odd story⦠Why was this obviously not very together girl doing
in Agra on her own (presumably) in the first place. From what I read here, I
feel very sorry for these two men.
An aside Anna: those were fun days in Spain, despite Franco being in the
background. The bulls remain, the (very British) name of the sherry company
removed from their torso (in accord with some strange advertising legislation
of latter years) and became even more iconic after the release of Bigas Lunaâs
âJamon, Jamonâ starring a very young Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem in a
delightfully erotic film.
March 25, 2013 at 18:41
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Well, if she says she went to Duncroft, guaranteed sheâs lying.
Ridiculouser and ridiculouser.
March 25, 2013 at 18:15
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It having become unsafe for any man to find himself, however innocently, in
the presence of an unchaperoned child it looks like weâd better not be
anywhere near a lone woman either.
March 25, 2013 at 19:57
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Another case JohnS of where the older of us had it all and todays poor
wimps and harpies are not just disadvantaged, theyâre paying our pensions
too?
March 25, 2013 at 18:13
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@Mewsical â not so fast we have Jessica, rabbit and the media part 2 to
come ! Ms â¦.had come to India for rehabilitation purposes following her recent
discovery that she had attended a school somewhere in the South of England in
1972. She only became aware of this sojourn forty years later under hypnosis
by a therapist whose techniques have been questioned in this months edition of
the British Psychological Journal in an article entitled âFalse memory
syndrome â the dangers of knowing what you previously didnât have a clue
aboutâ. Whatever, Ms â¦. was determined to âfind herselfâ fixing on India as
the perfect destinationâ¦â¦..
What other âmemoriesâ had the âtherapyâ
unearthed ? Suggestions ??
March 25, 2013 at 17:24
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Wow â did trip adviser get that one wrong !
March 25, 2013 at 17:23
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Well, at least she didnât go to Duncroft! What a whack-job this one is.
March 25,
2013 at 16:57
March 25, 2013 at 14:03
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Itâs incredible that two men will be held in prison for 6 months for what
seems to be a genuine attempt to help the seemingly-neurotic woman catch her
train to Jaipur.
Moral: do not help solitary young women.
March 25, 2013 at 11:27
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Those Indian chaps better not come to Tasmania. They will find that their
chances of a quick and fair hearing are just as bad here as there. Here you
get banged up and do not even get to see the magistrate until you have signed
a document (no, you cannot see it: it is âconfidentialâ) promising not to be
violent AGAIN.
Mind you, here the young lady would probably be given the keys to the hotel
and the owner, manager and security guard given an AVO keeping them away while
she continued to live there bill-free. And she would not have needed to jump
out of a window. Just a phone call would have done. We have very efficient
coppers here.
India has rather backward police force and âoddâ courts, but here we have
Feminists.
March 25, 2013 at 14:58
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You clearly have no idea of how âoddâ the courts, whose judiciary
dispense âjusticeâ in family or court of protection cases and even rape
cases, can be in this country. Didnât India develop its system on the
British model under the RAJ?
March 25, 2013 at 11:20
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Very strange story.
Googling around I thought for one moment she might be this Jessica
Daviesâ¦â¦.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1242296/Jessica-Davies–I-monster-What-Defence-Ministers-niece-told-police-slashing-lovers-throat.html
March 25, 2013 at 11:16
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Youâre tackling dual prejudice here â not only âmenâ (evil violent
creatures with horrid tallywhackers, chesthair and prehistoric expectations)
but âthe pastâ.
Earlier this morning I unwisely scanned one of the UK
ânewsâpaper forums story about the Dr Who hairy beasts with some idiot opining
âIn the 70s paedoâs were everywhere. My mum said ice cream men like Jimmy
Savile would only sell an ice lolly to little girls if they could feel their
little boobs. Thank god things have changed and this doesnât happen
anymoreâ
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