Neil Gaiman has been accused of sexual assault by two ladies with whom he was in consensual relationships and is the topic of a police criticism in New Zealand.
Gaiman’s place is that he strongly denies any allegations of non-consensual intercourse with the ladies and provides New Zealand police didn’t take up his provide of help over one lady’s criticism in 2022, which, he says, displays its lack of substance.
Nevertheless, New Zealand police stated it made a “variety of makes an attempt to talk to key individuals as a part of this investigation and people efforts stay ongoing”, including that there are “a variety of components to take into accounts with this case, together with location of all events”.
The allegations span 20 years and concern younger ladies who got here into contact with Gaiman – the 63 year-old bestselling writer of The Sandman, Good Omens, and American Gods – as a nanny to his youngster and as a fan of his writing.
take heed to Tortoise’s four-part audio investigation
• Episode one: the tub
• Episode two: the WhatsApps
• Episode three: the pond
• Episode 4: the fan
The ladies’s allegations had been first reported in Tortoise’s podcast ‘Grasp: the allegations in opposition to Neil Gaiman’, launched on Wednesday. The four-part collection examines the ladies’s accounts of tough and degrading intercourse with the writer, which they are saying was not all the time consensual.
Though the overwhelming majority of instances of sexual assault occur inside relationships, most allegations go unreported, and due to this fact unprosecuted, due to the expectation that alleged victims wouldn’t be in a relationship with their alleged assailant. Whereas the regulation says that consent is for every sexual act, many individuals assume {that a} relationship offers ongoing consent.
Scarlett, 23, alleges that Gaiman sexually assaulted her inside hours of their first assembly in February 2022 in a shower at his New Zealand residence, the place she labored as a nanny to his youngster. Tortoise understands that Gaiman’s account is that they solely “cuddled” and “made out” within the tub and that he had established consent for this. His place is that, over the three-week sexual relationship that adopted, they solely ever engaged in consensual digital penetration.
Scarlett alleges that inside this in any other case consensual relationship Gaiman engaged in tough and degrading penetrative sexual acts along with her. Tortoise has seen contemporaneous messages, notes, and spoken to associates who Scarlett talked to on the time, which helps her allegations.
The second lady, Okay, was 18 when she met Gaiman at a ebook signing in Sarasota, Florida in 2003. She started a romantic relationship with him when she turned 20, and Gaiman was in his mid-40s, however alleges that she submitted to tough and painful intercourse that “she neither needed nor loved.” In a single incident she alleges Gaiman penetrated her regardless of her asking him to not as she was affected by a painful an infection. Gaiman’s place is that he denies any illegal behaviour with Okay and is disturbed by her allegations.
Tortoise understands that he believes Okay’s allegations are motivated by her remorse over their relationship and that Scarlett was affected by a situation related to false recollections on the time of her relationship with him, a declare which isn’t supported by her medical information and medical historical past.
Gaiman is on Time journal’s record of the world’s 100 most influential individuals. Credited with bringing comics to a worldwide viewers, he has been known as “essentially the most cherished dwelling author”. His writing has been tailored for Netflix and Amazon mini-series, Hollywood movies, and West Finish reveals. He delivered the final annual Tolkien Lecture at Oxford College and was chosen to open the newest season of the Queen’s Studying Room podcast.
THE FULL SERIES
Episode one: the tub
Neil Gaiman is among the world’s most profitable authors. And one of the crucial cherished. His works have been tailored for movie, TV and the stage. Now two ladies, a former nanny and a fan, allege he sexually assaulted and abused them whereas they had been in consensual relationships with him. He strenuously denies all of the allegations.
Episode two: the Whatsapps
The previous nanny who alleges Neil Gaiman sexually assaulted her shares her WhatsApp messages with him. The messages seem pleasant and affectionate. He says they’re proof that she consented to intercourse with him. However is there one other approach of studying them?
Episode three: the pond
New Zealand police inform the previous nanny there isn’t sufficient proof to actively pursue her sexual assault criticism in opposition to Neil Gaiman. He says he supplied himself up for an interview with the police. However the information might point out in any other case.
Episode 4: the fan
The second lady to allege Neil Gaiman sexually assaulted her first met him as an 18-year-old fan. They started a consensual sexual relationship two years later. She alleges he was abusive and as soon as penetrated her with out her consent. He strenuously denies any illegal behaviour and maintains all their intercourse was consensual.