"He thinks it's hilarious": Footballer films the rape of his girlfriend by his teammates.

Warning: this post deals with rape and may be triggering for some readers. 

It was June 23, 2013. Brandon Vandenburg, then 19, and his 21-year-old girlfriend had spent the day drinking. They were returning to Vanderbilt University, in Nashville in the US, where Vandenburg was a student and played football. They’d been out together at a local club, Tin Roof Bar.

Vandenburg’s girlfriend was passed out by the time they reached the campus. According to Vandenbrurg, he approach a group of three fellow footballers to ask for their help in carrying the unconscious young women to his room. He knew the footballers only as “Cory, ‘Tip’ and Brandon Banks“.

“I saw them, I was like ‘hey, I need help’,” he reportedly told police. According to Vandenburg, he and the three fellow footballers put the woman, who had been vomiting and was floating in and out of consciousness, into his bed. They talked for 20 minutes before leaving the room. Vanderburg said he slept elsewhere to avoid the smell of vomit.

The footage on his phone said something else entirely.

Videos of the three strangers taking it in turns to rape the unconscious woman is punctuated with Vandenburg’s laughter, him dolling out condoms, and lamenting the fact he “couldn’t get an erection”.

“He’s giving instructions, encouraging, and then you’ll hear him laughing,” Deputy District Attorney General Tom Thurman told jurors said. “He thinks it’s hilarious.”

Vandenburg and former teammate Cory Baty, who was also involved in the rape, were tried and convicted by a jury last year. However the guilty verdicts were thrown out after lawyers discovered the jury foreman had been a rape victim.

The now-23-year-old Vandenburg is being retried this week for five counts of aggravated rape, two counts of aggravated sexual battery and one count of unlawful photography.

Calling out the grope. Post continues…

As well as the footage of his teammates raping his unconscious victim (who has no recollection of the incident, only that she woke up in a strange room feeling “sick”), Vandenburng also photographed his girlfriend’s genitals in the dormitory hallway.

“I’ve been an outstanding citizen. A strong Christian and raised right by my family with a high level of character and never got in trouble in my whole life,” Brandon told Nashville’s News Channel 5 as part of the news station’s coverage of the trial.

Vandenburg’s defence references the culture of drinking and partying commonly seen within university athletics. His lawyers told CBS news he was introduced to partying by “mentors” on the football team.

Baty was convicted again in April, and the other two players involved are yet to go to trial.

If you or a loved one has been sexually abused, Mamamia urges you to contact 1800 RESPECT or visit this website.