Victim on Trial: Cheryl Araujo and The Accused
The 1988 film The Accused starring Academy Award winner Jodie Foster depicts the horrific assault and subsequent victim blaming of Sarah Tobias. The film was based on the real case of Cheryl Araujo
*Warning: This Article Contains Sensitive Subject Matter*
Film Overview
The Accused was released on October 14, 1988, starring Jodie Foster as Sarah Tobias, a young woman who survives a brutal gang rape in a bar, and Kelly McGillis as Katheryn Murphy, the prosecutor assigned to her case.
The film opens with Sarah going to a rundown bar to drown her sorrows after a fight with her boyfriend. There, she’s brutally gang-raped by three men on top of a pinball machine, as other bar patrons watch and cheer her attackers on.
When Sarah wakes in the hospital her body is battered, and a rape kit confirms what she experienced. District Attorney Kathryn Murphy takes on her case, but soon backs into a plea deal when Sarah's past, rumored flirting, alcohol, and a drug conviction, undermine her credibility.
The plea bargain, which reduces the rapists’ charges, feels like a betrayal to Sarah.
One night, Sarah confronts and runs her car into one of the men who cheered the assault. She survives and is hospitalized again. This moment shakes Kathryn. She realizes Sarah deserves more than a half-measure of justice.
Kathryn decides to take a bold stand to prosecute not just the rapists but the bystanders who cheered them. The focus shifts to a second trial, where Sarah testifies in court, and a key witness, a college student, confirms the presence of a cheering crowd.
The cheering spectators are convicted of criminal solicitation, earning prison sentences and a measure of justice.
Jodie Foster would go on to win the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance.
Inspired by True Events
While the film changes names and details, it was directly inspired by the 1983 rape of Cheryl Araujo. Like Cheryl, Sarah is attacked in a public bar in front of onlookers, and just like in real life, bystanders cheer, laugh, and refuse to help.
On the evening of March 6, 1983, 21-year-old Cheryl Araujo tucked her two young daughters into bed following a small birthday celebration for her oldest daughter. Exhausted but eager for a moment to herself, Araujo left her home in New Bedford, Massachusetts, to meet a female friend for dinner.
After dinner, as Cheryl was walking home, she realized she was out of cigarettes. Since the store she usually went to was closed, she walked to Big Dan’s Tavern, known in the neighborhood as a local dive bar where she knew the bartender.
Inside, Cheryl had a drink, chatted with the bartender and another woman, and even played a song on the jukebox. Eventually, Cheryl got ready to head home when something terrible happened.
According to court records and Cheryl's testimony, a group of men in the bar started harassing her. One of them made sexual comments. Another grabbed her. What followed was one of the most horrifying acts of public violence ever recorded in a rape case.
Two men, Joseph Vieira and Daniel Silva, dragged Cheryl onto a pool table in the center of the bar. There, she was stripped from the waist down, and in plain sight, four men, including John Cordeiro and Victor Raposo, joined in and brutally gang-raped her. While this was happening, at least two other men stood by, doing nothing to stop it. Reports from the trial revealed that some onlookers cheered, shouting things like “Go for it!” while the assault was happening.
The assault lasted roughly two hours. During that time, patrons did not come to her aid. The bartender, Carlos Machado, attempted to call the police, but one of the onlookers blocked him from using the phone.
When Cheryl found a moment of escape, she broke free, half-naked with her clothes torn, and ran out into the street screaming. Three college students in a passing van spotted her. They described her as a “deer in the headlights,” traumatized and crying for help. They immediately rushed her to the hospital.
Within hours, she was in a hospital, telling investigators what had happened to her in that bar. The Police arrested six men, four were charged with rape, and two others were accused of encouraging the crime by cheering the attackers on. The suspects were all young Portuguese-American men from New Bedford.
Trial and Media Exposure
The 1984 trial received national and international attention, and it also became controversial when television cameras were allowed inside the courtroom. This meant Cheryl’s testimony was carried by CNN and other channels and broadcast into living rooms across America.
Though the law at the time protected rape victims' identities, Cheryl’s name was accidentally revealed on television, and her home address was also leaked. This led to harassment, stalking, and a complete breakdown of her privacy.
The defense lawyers used a strategy that was sadly common at the time: “Blame the victim.” They questioned Cheryl's clothing, her behavior, and her presence in the bar. She was asked why she had gone out that night without her boyfriend, why she'd had a drink, and even whether she "deserved" what happened to her.
One attorney even sneered, “If you’re living with a man, what are you doing running around the streets getting raped?” The trial became less about the rapists and more about Cheryl’s character.
During the trial, Cheryl expected support from her community, but what she received instead was judgment, gossip, and betrayal, as many of the accused men were from the same community. As the trial unfolded, some people began siding with the attackers, organizing rallies and petitions in their defense.
The very place she had called home turned against her. She was labeled a liar, a drunk, and worse. The press even caught people wearing T-shirts in support of the accused, while others made public statements blaming Cheryl for what had happened.
In cafés and meeting spots around town, people blamed Cheryl. One local was quoted as saying, “She went there for one reason, not cigarettes… she was asking for it.”
Still, justice wasn’t entirely denied. In March 1984, four of the attackers were convicted of aggravated rape and sentenced to between six and twelve years in prison. Two others, who were accused of encouraging but not participating directly, were acquitted.
Feminist groups and survivors’ advocates rallied behind her, pointing to the case as a sign of how society fails women, especially when it comes to believing their stories. States began adopting “rape shield” laws, and courts grew cautious of televised rape trials. The media were also heavily criticized for their reckless indifference to Cheryl’s privacy and safety.
Aftermath
Eventually, the pressure became too much. Cheryl moved to Miami, Florida, hoping to start fresh with her daughters. She enrolled in secretarial school, trying to rebuild a life far from the glare of public scrutiny.
But the trauma didn’t go away. Cheryl struggled with depression, anxiety, and alcohol. In December 1986, just two years after the trial, she died in a car crash. At the time of her death, her blood alcohol level was nearly three times the legal limit.
Her short life left a lasting mark on how America talks about sexual assault, justice, and victims' rights.
Release of The Accused
When The Accused hit theaters in October 1988, it didn’t just tell a story; it struck a nerve. Behind the scenes, writer Tom Topor worked hard to get things right. He interviewed rape survivors, police officers, and lawyers to ground the film in reality.
Topor said he based the film on the 1983 “Big Dan’s Tavern” case. That’s why the pool table is replaced with a pinball machine to avoid lawsuits but preserve the public violation at the heart of Cheryl’s story.
The film didn’t just dramatize a crime; it sparked a conversation about how victims are treated, what justice looks like, and whether silence is as harmful as violence. In many ways, The Accused gave Cheryl the justice that real life never fully delivered.
The film also did something that was rarely done at the time, it didn’t just stop at punishing the rapists. The concept of bystander responsibility emerged as one of the film’s prevailing themes.
It asked audiences to consider whether standing by and doing nothing could be as harmful as the crime itself. In the movie, the district attorney decides to put the cheering bystanders on trial, charging them with “criminal solicitation.” It’s a powerful moment that flips the legal script.
The Accused sparked national conversations about consent, victim-blaming, and the role of bystanders in sexual violence. It gave people, especially women, a story that felt honest and unflinching. For many, it was the first time they truly saw what survivors go through, not just during the assault, but long after. In a time when rape was still a taboo subject in film and media, The Accused broke the silence.
Legacy
When Cheryl Araujo took the stand in April 1984, the media wasn’t just present, it was inside the courtroom, filming every moment of her testimony. Millions of people saw her name, her face, and her pain. Her identity was never protected, and for many, that was the second violation.
The backlash was swift and necessary. Cheryl’s case became one of the driving forces behind rape shield laws in the U.S., which limit the ability of defense attorneys to use a victim’s sexual history in court.
While some shield laws existed before, Cheryl’s highly publicized trial exposed just how brutal and humiliating the courtroom process could be for survivors. By the late 1990s, every U.S. state had enacted some form of shield law.
Her story also forced news outlets and television producers to rethink their policies. Many adopted stricter guidelines about protecting victim anonymity, especially in sexual assault cases. Organizations like RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network), founded in 1994, were born in the wave of public demand for more survivor-centered resources and respectful reporting.
Cheryl Araujo never asked to become a symbol. She was a young mother trying to survive, and the world watched as she was ripped apart. But because of her, and because of the films that told her truth, laws were changed, minds were opened, and voices that had been silent for too long began to rise.
Sources:
“Cheryl Araujo.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 24 May 2025, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheryl_Araujo.
“Silent Witness (1985 Film).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 11 Sept. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Witness_(1985_film).
“The Accused (1988 Film).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 5 June 2025, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Accused_(1988_film).
Tron, Gina. “What Oscar-Winning Film Was Inspired by the Heinous Rape That Occurred at ‘Big Dan’s?’” Oxygen, Oxygen, 20 Dec. 2023, www.oxygen.com/true-crime-buzz/trial-by-media-cheryl-araujo-rape-inspired-jodie-foster-film.
Watts, Marina. “‘trial by Media’ Explores the Big Dan’s Rape Case.” Newsweek, Newsweek, 20 May 2020, www.newsweek.com/trial-media-explores-true-story-that-inspired-jodie-fosters-accused-1505195.
I was so moved by that film back in the day. Thank you for highlighting the real story behind it