The case, as presented by the media at the time, did not seem clear cut enough to warrant conviction. If I remember correctly, his mate f***ed her while she was drunk, then texted him to come and join the party and he duly obliged. So his mate f***ed her at peak drunkeness, but got off, and he f***ed her later and got punished. However, for a guilty verdict to have been returned, the case must have gone on some stronger evidence than the victim's word alone.
Now, for those who have never known experience of a woman who has been raped, you are incredibly fortunate. My ex was raped as a child, and when we first started to do stuff, she recoiled and started crying in the corner. I asked her what was wrong and she told me about a family friend who had used babysitting as an excuse to abuse her 4 year old self, telling her she would get hurt if she informed her mum. I was so gobsmacked I couldn't speak for hours on end, I just cried. It effected my sleep for years afterwards. As a result of that, we never slept together, and we'd been in a relationship for almost 3 years. She broke up with me, and is probs banging some guys brains out now, but I'm proud I got her to that point, from where she had been.
One night, whilst I was with my current girlfriend, I told her about this experience and how it made me wary of a sexual relationship. To my horror, she went silent, and then explained she had had a traumatic experience herself. At age 13, in foster care, her foster dad took her aside and told her she would never get a boyfriend, and that he would teach her how to get one, and if she refused, he would make sure her and her sister were homeless. He stuck his tongue in her throat and made her give him oral. Every time his wife left them alone, he forced himself on her, and the abuse got worse and worse and worse. She explained in horrifying detail, sobbing at several intervals, as I reeled open mouthed. She explained about her constant flirtation with suicidal thoughts, and how she broke down in tears every night. She finally got the courage to speak out, 5 years later (5 years of sustained and continual abuse) when it turned out her Sister had been set upon by this monster too. In court, the bastard had the temerity to plead not-guilty. Upon being utterly destroyed by the prosecution, he changed his plea to guilty and turned with a smirk to her in the courtroom, and said "but I could tell she enjoyed it"...
Now, I want one of these people who believe "everyone can be rehabilitated" or "everyone deserves a second chance", to tell me I'm wrong for wanting to kill that unhuman sack of putrid **** when he comes out of Prison in just five years. The reason I shared these events with you, rather than just some off-topic story about how I apparently have some innate homing-beacon for these awful back-stories, is because I want people to understand the enormity of the word rape. A word most of you don't actually understand, because it's just rough-sex in your mind, the idea of mental and physical torture not one you can comfortably relate to. If you can get the gist of just how heart-breaking it was for me to listen to both of those stories, then you get about 0.000000000000000000000000000000001% of how it might feel to be the victim of such a crime.
The system is too naive. Despite what I've shared, I find it's admirable that our society is so forgiving, but it's not in anyway realistic. I think people get bogged down in the time-scale, 10 years, 15 years, 30 years etc etc... The time is largely unimportant for me. For me, release must be earned on chance of righting a wrong or of the individual performing a genuine function in society that, whilst not atoning for the actual error, serves a role of good and redemption, rather than just disappearing into obscurity with a new name and identity because that's considered "human rights". To me, this means most murderers and rapists will never be released. Their crime too great to be repaid through any service, and I think that's right because there is genuinely no excuse for those wrongs. If any of us had raped a woman, I should hope we would be ashamed and want to be locked up and the key thrown away, because we have stronger moral and social values, and actually care about those around them. In the same way, I'm appalled Oscar is fighting the case at all. If I murdered my girlfriend, or shot her "by accident" several times, I'd think prison is the right place for me. Good people show a willingness to genuinely repent.
Every case is not the same, however, and without knowing the Ched Evans case in detail, I won't what his ultimate consequence should be. If he had been the monster who attacked my girlfriend, however, there's no way I could condone him being able to walk, never mind play football again.