Gayle Newland, a 25-year-old UK woman, was recently found guilty of three counts of sexual assault for impersonating a man in order to have sex with her female friend. Judge Roger Dutton, calling Newland “an intelligent, obsessional, highly manipulative, deceitful, scheming and thoroughly determined young woman,” has now sentenced her to eight years in prison.
According to the complainant, Newland—whom she met over the Internet as “Kye Fortune”—disguised her voice and convinced the complainant to wear a blindfold during meet-ups, citing insecurities. The complainant alleged that the couple had sex about 10 times before the victim removed her blindfold and saw Newland in a prosthetic penis.
The defendant claimed that the couple was simply engaging in role play, and that her accuser was struggling with her sexuality. Newland denied the presence of a blindfold, in addition to the wooly hat, swimsuit, and bandages that the victim claimed were used to further disguise her gender.
Judge Dutton stated at the sentencing (via The Guardian):
“To successfully pass off a deception of this complexity was a major undertaking, involving dedicated mobile phone lines as well as regular texts from you purporting to be Kye’s relatives.
You pursued this course of conduct over a lengthy period, during which you played with her affections, acting entirely for your own sexual satisfaction and choosing to ignore the devastating impact that the eventual discovery of the truth would have on her.”
The judge acknowledged a psychiatric report detailing Newland’s various disorders—social anxiety disorder, a personality disorder, depression and obsessive compulsive disorder—but, according to The Guardian, did not believe this was enough to depart from sentencing guidelines.
Newland, who earlier in the trial had a panic attack in court, was heard screaming, and had to be physically removed from the dock.
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