Two D.C.-based Brazilian jiu-jitsu and mixed martial arts competitors, Matthew Maldonado, 26, and Nicholas Shultz, 21, have been arrested for viciously raping one of their female teammates on New Year’s Eve.
The woman felt too drunk to drive home after the three of them were partying at a club so, according to court documents, she left with her friends because they told her they would get her to a colleague’s house where she could sleep safely. She did everything a well-behaved lady is supposed to do when out on the town: Designated driver? Check! Didn’t walk home alone? Check! It feels trite to say, “you really can’t trust anyone,” but just wait until you hear the rest of the story.
Instead of driving her home, the woman’s trusted teammates raped her in a parking lot and left her passed out on the concrete, where she was found by a stranger.
The woman didn’t remember much — because she was drunk but also because she fell to the ground multiple times and struck her head while being raped by both men — but she did remember Shultz forcing her to give him oral sex, raping her, and then saying, “I’m sorry, I’m a sick bastard,” before abandoning her.
[Note: as a commenter pointed out, the headline of this Washington Times article is “D.C. woman’s memory of New Year’s sexual assault hazy.” COOL/RELEVANT DETAIL!]
Luckily, her assault was caught on surveillance video in the garage — otherwise, it would’ve been difficult for her to prove she had been raped by her close peers, given that cops and juries (and papers such as the Washington Times) aren’t usually very sympathetic to women who accuse men they know of raping them after they’ve consumed alcohol. It would’ve been hard to argue she was asking to be left lying by herself on the concrete with a head injury, but we’re sure her attackers could’ve thought of something.
“Many people teach women that learning jiu jitsu and self-awareness can help prevent sexual assault, but when your own teammates and friends who you trust commit such heinous and vial crimes, how can we possibly?” wrote a woman who asked to remain anonymous but is on the same team as the rape survivor and her attackers. “To add some color to this story, it’s important to know that our team is really a family. We are indoctrinated into supporting each other as such… So imagine this, two of your brothers who you trust more than anyone find you drunk in a bar and promise to get you home safely… and then RAPE you. Repeatedly.”
Image via Csaba PeterdiShutterstock.