A Conservative councillor in Bromley has come under fire for suggesting a rape victim in Plumstead was “likely” to be a prostitute.
On New Year's Eve, News Shopper reported the rape in a park in Villas Road at 4am on December 30.
Underneath a Twitter post from the news organisation headlined “Woman raped in Plumstead park in early hours”, Shaun Slator wrote: “More likely that it's a punter that didn't pay.”
The tweet was deleted shortly after.
Speaking to The Mirror Slator said: “I don’t know that she is or she isn’t (a prostitute), do you?
“There’s been a rape reported at 4am in Plumstead, and I think it's very unlikely to have anyone walking around on her own.”
Slator said it was a "possibility" in suggesting that the victim was a prostitute, reports the Mirror.
He explained: “I think if there is a problem with that and the police haven’t been solving it for many years. I think that is a problem.”
A Bromley Council spokesperson confirmed: "We have received complaints relating to this matter which the council will now investigate."
Slator’s comment also attracted much criticism from local Labour councillor Simon Jeal on Twitter.
Jeal called for Bromley Council to publicly condemn his comments and refer the matter for an independent investigation.
He said he and the Bromley Labour Party are "disgusted" by the comments targeting the victim.
Slator admitted he could see why some people might have a problem with his tweet.
He added: “Would they rather people were working to take women off of drugs, out of the abusive situation that they’re in, or would they rather that continued?
“I would rather that stopped.”
Asked if he could understand why campaigners might have a problem with the language he used, he said: “I’m not promoting rape, am I?
“I’m not justifying it all. You can put a headline there saying a woman has been raped but when you look behind it there’s a huge problem in the area with prostitutes, with women on drugs, women being abused, women being pimped out.
“I’ve had a knife pulled on me by a pimp in Plumstead for walking past a prostitute.
“There’s a huge problem here which the council and police aren’t tackling.”
The full tweet from Simon Jeal (@Simon_Jeal) said: “I will not share the revolting comments made by @LBofBromley Cllr Shaun Slator, targeting an alleged rape victim on New Year’s Eve, but I and the entire @labour4bromley are disgusted by them.
“We call on the @LBofBromley Conservative Group and @GarethBaconMP to publicly and unequivocally condemn his comments and refer the matter to @LBofBromley standards committee for an independent investigation.”
A spokesperson for Metropolitan Police said: “At 3.59am on Friday, 30 December a female attended a police station to report that she had been raped in the vicinity of Villas Road SE18.
“There have been no arrests and enquiries are ongoing.”
