doesn’t mean that it should be used without consideration for its generally accepted meaning

This is my point. You are deciding that your "accepted meaning" must be the "generally" accepted meaning. That's prescriptivist. I understood what was meant, because my understanding of the word comfortably allows for this. And since dictionaries generally aim to describe real-world usage (usually listing "archaic" or "rare" where appropriate, which most dictionaries will do with alternative definitions of rape—see attached image), I feel pretty comfortable in asserting that your attempts to prescribe a more limited definition are wrong. Especially given this was seemingly an attempted execution—in a country with rule of law, it would very likely be tried as attempted murder.