Marcus Fakana gets prison sentence in Dubai.

If that is a quote from Adley Grey's website, it is a huge oversimplification and is quite wrong to refer to "statutory rape".

The law in England & Wales is defined by the Sexual Offences Act 2003. Under this act:

• Sex with a child under 13 is classed as "rape of a child under 13"
• Sex with a child over 13 but under 16 is only classed as rape if the child does not consent. If the child consents, the offence is "sexual activity with a child", which is a lesser offence and is unlikely to be prosecuted if the offender is close in age to the child

The law in Scotland is similar. Sex with a child under 13 is classed as "rape of a young child". If the child is over 13 but under 16 and the sex is consensual, the offence is "having intercourse with an older child".

I have absolutely no idea. I don’t work for them or have any affiliation to them. A previous poster stated that statutory rape did not exist in the UK and I found that interesting so I looked it up, and shared the information in case others were also interested, that’s all.

@JHound - I have no idea is the answer to all the questions you asked. But to be clear, my post was in response to @Ohnonotmeagain who said that statutory rape did not exist in the UK. It was not a comment on any particular case occurring now, or in the past. For the avoidance of doubt, I feel huge sympathy for Marcus Farkana, and his family.

When was the last time you heard of a 16 year old being prosecuted in the UK for sex with a 15 year old.

Home much police time and resources do you think is routinely spent on this kind of thing?

How many 16 year olds are serving life sentences for having sex with 15 year olds.

I only just the term because it has become vernacular parlance - I mean an illegal act - sex with a 15 year old in the UK for example is an illegal act. The girl (or boy) cannot consent to it. It is illegal to have sex with someone of 15 in the UK. Even if she really really wants it (or he wants it) it is an illegal act just as in Dubai we all now know full well if the girl is 17 and unmarried she also cannot consent to sex even if she really wants it.
In the US FLDS religion they didn't do too badly in legal compliance until they decided to marry girls under the age of consent in the relevant US state and then huge trouble came upon them and their prophet is in jail. Basically people need to learn the law of where they go if they want to stay out of trouble and not assume in some British imperalist type of way this boy did assume it will be like English law. Even if you think our laws are the best on the planet you still need to check or even better never go to Dubai.

I am always surprised (in a disappointed sort of way) about the number of people who think that statutory rape exists in any of the British jurisdictions.

And I suspect there are even more who don't know the difference between the age of strict liability, the usual age of consent, and the higher age of consent when one person is in a position of influence over the other (teacher, coach etc)

Why is a UK solicitor using American English (offense) to explain UK laws. Also, the UK has three separate criminal justice systems which is not touched upon in the explanation.

Adley Grey Solicitors seem to think that statutory rape is a thing in the UK:

“In the United Kingdom, statutory rape is a type of sexual offense that occurs when one person has sexual intercourse with another person who is under the age of consent. The age of consent for sexual activity in the UK is 16 years old. This means that it is illegal for someone to have sexual intercourse with someone who is under the age of 16, even if the other person consents to the activity.
Statutory rape is a serious offense in the UK and is punishable by up to life imprisonment. The specific sentence that is imposed in a case of statutory rape will depend on the specific circumstances of the case and the laws in place in the jurisdiction where the offense was committed.”

One reason I try to avoid Dubai - almost everything about it is awful - the consumerism and shops (I even preferred Iran on that ground - less obssessed with money and that is saying something as Iran is a pretty awful regime too - I did some work in both countries briefly); the way some of them treat servants imported from abroad there; the sexism and much else.

However as a general point it is important to know laws abroad particularly over sexual activities or even just what you wear eg we were recently in the Caribbean and before we went I reminded my sons it is unlawful to wear camouflague clothing there - even just trousers with that pattern on them. Age of consents and age for marriage vary hugely not just in different countries but over the years eg you could marry at 16 in England until very recently and now it is 18 but it remains 16 in Scotland. In the UK we regard men as statutory rapists if the man has sex with a 15 year old even if she looked 16 and even if she was madly in love with him so it is not beyond the bounds of possibility Dubai might have something similar - if the girl is under 18 even if she consents it is not a consent in law just as a 15 year old girl in the UK cannot consent to sex even if she really wants it and really loves the man,

I had a scary experience a few years ago during a layover in Dubai. My European airline tried to bump me off the flight and send me across the Middle East adding hours extra onto an already long flight and with a v short connection time that could mean I could easily miss one of the flights. I kicked up a huge fuss, while staying polite, at the check-in desk and threatened to tweet the parent company of the airline, asking why they had overbooked the flight.
i was only passing through Dubai and had no idea that a tweet could land me in jail. The man on the check in desk threatened to call the police and said I would be arrested for a social media post even though it was to a non UAE company.
Fortunately all was ok in the end but while I knew social media rules were tough i assumed it referred to criticism of the UAE not European companies. It does show how easy it is to fall foul of the rules even for someone who has travelled a lot.

People having sex with underaged people is a crime in most countries.

It’s not a law for men alone. And in many countries Romeo and Juliet exemptions exist officially and unofficially.

Is it a harsh sentence - yes.

But we cannot tell other countries how to run their legal system, we wouldn't like it if they were telling us how to run ours.

And it's not like it's an egregious law. Men having sex with girls under the age of consent is a crime in most countries and in some of them you can go to prison for it.

True

Yes people keep missing the girl’s mom
first made a false rape accusation before settling on the age of consent laws. And to pretend that for some reason all the reporting on the case is colluding to hide a serious offence is silly.

@LessonsinChemistryandLove

I would not allow my black son to have sec with a non black girl whilst on holiday in Dubai, especially one that was sneaking around,

Same. Racists are deranged and you never know what they may do.Too big a risk. My philosophy was always that if you have to date in secret then there is never a good reason so just sack them off. I guess his parents are good, honest, trusting people - sadly.

Side note and unrelated: I have just started reading Lessons in Chemistry.

I like it so far!

Ffs. Yes he can have a nice year out. Maybe spend it in the gym or becoming a carpenter.

He's in prison in Dubai, it could very well be the end of the world for him.

Surely the only info any of us have to go on is what is being reported in the media.

Yup, and the Mail's reporting includes quite a lot of info from a court reporter.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14207477/full-story-British-teen-Dubai-jail-holiday-fling-Marcus-fakana.html

I think everyone is being trolled, in this thread, by a sockpuppetier.

Surely the only info any of us have to go on is what is being reported in the media. I’m sure, if there was a whiff of sexual assault the mother would have reported that and Dubai authorities would have jailed him for life! Not sure why that part of the story is being questioned in this context.

I feel sorry for MF, what a horrible situation to find yourself in after a silly holiday romance. Personally though, I would not allow my black son to have sec with a non black girl whilst on holiday in Dubai, especially one that was sneaking around, (I wouldn’t go Dubai anyway) it sounds like a recipe for disaster.

I feel very sorry for the girl also, if your own mother would go to such lengths to stop you making choices about your own body, I can only imagine how difficult your life must be. The whole thing is very sad and reminds we again why I would not go on a fun holiday to such a conservative country.

Is it not?

And banged up abroad …. Is what? A trusted source of facts and balanced information - vetted & source & fact checked? Are you sure they aren’t shaking the tin cup to help “support” MF?

Your naïveté about where the “facts” are coming from, is really sweet.

Miserable comes to mind.

Yes I think there are a few non genuine posters who are simply bored!

Your point was perfectly clear.

I can only conclude that 24% of posters on this thread have no happiness in their heart. Very sad, I feel sorry for them.

Happy New year! 😁