UK Judge Rules Women Cannot Use Knives to Defend Themselves Against Violent Rapists

Martyna Ogonowska has lost her final appeal against a 17-year prison sentence in the UK—for defending herself by stabbing a man who was violently raping her.

In the UK, it’s now illegal to defend yourself from rape.

Ogonowska was just 18 when she was convicted in 2019 of murdering 23-year-old Filip Jaskiewicz in a Peterborough car park. The weapon—a knife she carried for self-protection—was used after, according to the sentencing judge himself, Jaskiewicz had “undoubtedly touched [her] sexually and was violent… shortly before he was killed.”

Despite this acknowledgment of assault and trauma, Judge Farrell QC ruled that the incident did not qualify as self-defense. His rationale? Ogonowska had brought a knife with her—despite living in fear and carrying it for her safety.

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The court appeared more troubled by her preparation to defend herself from attack than by the violent rape she suffered.

On Friday, the Court of Appeal upheld her sentence. Lord Justice Stuart-Smith admitted the 17-year minimum term was “heavy” given Ogonowska’s youth and background, but still ruled it could not be called “manifestly excessive.”

Her conviction appeal was already dismissed in 2023.

Ogonowska’s story is as tragic as it is enraging. At 14, she was raped—a trauma that left her with diagnosed PTSD. Her alleged attacker was never prosecuted.

Even more disturbingly, at her own murder trial, prosecutors were allowed to claim the previous assault had been consensual—despite her being legally underage and despite the court relying on Facebook messages instead of a proper criminal investigation.

Justice for Women has called Ogonowska a “double victim of a misogynist justice system.” Legal experts like Harriet Wistrich from the Centre for Women’s Justice have slammed the prosecution’s handling of the case, questioning whether proper guidance on rape myths was followed once Ogonowska became the defendant rather than the victim.

But the court saw it differently. Stuart-Smith wrote that Judge Farrell was within his rights to dismiss Ogonowska’s rape account, despite never having tried the case or heard evidence in that matter. He went on to state that her PTSD—while real—did not justify a reduced sentence under the defense of diminished responsibility.

The judge did acknowledge Ogonowska’s deeply traumatic background: being uprooted from Poland at 12, enduring severe bullying, suffering post-natal depression, and trying to raise a child as a teen. Yet somehow, all this wasn’t enough to tip the scales of justice in her favor.

Instead, the system made it clear: if you’re a young woman defending yourself from sexual violence, don’t expect mercy—especially if you survive.