A judge in the UK has banned an autistic woman with an IQ of 64 from having sexual intercourse on the grounds she does not fully understand she could say no to such actions.
Mr Justice Hedley said the 29-year-old lacks the mental capacity to consent to having sex, and made the order to protect her best interests. He said she had to be protected from 'potentially exploitative and damaging' relations in the future, as she had already been involved in risky behaviour with people.
The order prevents the woman from having sex and also means anyone trying to have sex with her can be charged with sexual assault or rape.
Mr Justice Hedley said: 'It is strange, but nevertheless true, that even the freedom to make unwise decisions is one that the court is required to guard and only to restrict if and when the best interests of (the woman) so require.'
It controls the finances of some of Britain’s most vulnerable people, and the fund is believed to run into several billions pounds.
The court has come under criticism for being secretive but it has insisted it is acting in the best interests of theindividual concerned.
Justice Hedley is no stranger to very difficult moral cases, last year he oversaw a case where a mother tried have her 21-year-old daughter sterilised due to her ‘significant learning difficulties’.
The bid was subsequently withdrawn.
He was also in charge of a case in which a gay man and his lover took the lesbian mother of his children and her partner to court for access rights.
He said the impact of the couples’ conflict on the two sisters in the case, had caused at least one of them had suffered significant emotional harm.
