The three boys accused of taking it in turns to rape a girl have been found not guilty

Maybe they did but you'd have have to know what she was saying to know whether that meant anything, wouldn't you? There are no reports on what that was.

Absolutely horrific.
Oral rape and Anal rape at the same time, and just 13 years old? Raped by other children?
I have no words.

Didn't they tell her to shut up in the clip? Maybe I'm misremembering

It isn't as clear cut as people have been saying. She said yes on the bus, it's been reported in several posts above.

Video of sex isn't evidence of a crime, people do it all the time these days.

I'm very sorry about your own experience of this horrendous crime.

Poor poor girl. That sounds fucking horrific!!
Little bastards, they are.
The violence in our schools and shit like this is why my dd is going to 3 martial arts classes pw. It's not fitness/discipline and structure that I'm sending her for. It's to give her the tools to be able to protect herself from this shitty new "society" we are living in, in the UK.
So sad and angry for that wee lassie

No, I obviously wouldn’t want an innocent man to go to prison. But I’m really thinking about cases like the one we’re discussing, where there is video evidence. And rape myths like the idea that if the victim isn’t screaming out the word ‘no’, that means she’s consenting. As a rape victim myself (CSA), I know that isn’t what happens and freezing is a very common response to sexual assault.

Although maybe I would be ruled out as a rape victim from serving as a juror on a rape trial?

You are putting adult expectations of behaviour onto a child. Pretty reprehensible if you ask me. Why is it you hold the girls to such higher standards than the boys?

No way you read this and felt empathy for the boys to the same degree as the girl...

That’s a fucking joke they raped that poor girl and those fools let them off with it. What the fuck is wrong with an our justice system when they are letting 3 teenage rapists off scot free to go out and do it again because they will because now they think they will get away with it every time. Absolute shameful miscarriage of justice.

I've given up reading further into these type of stories as VAWG is horrifically under punished/no accountability anyway. I really do feel completely helpless. I was raped and SA’ed throughout my childhood, this type of case is exactly why I would never even attempt to prosecute.

So if it's very finely balanced would you rather send an innocent man to prison than have a rapist go free?

Our system is based around a principle that it is less bad for the guilty to go unpunished than for the alternative, which is to lock up innocent men.

It's a principle I firmly believe in.

So she couldn’t run out anywhere and get help? She just stood there watching, she could have got help? Horrific that this girl went through it but it really doesn’t add up here.

I think we mostly agree but I think they knew they were doing wrong but they thought they would get away with it, such is their entitlement.

And they were right.

My only hope now is that their school friends and neighbours make the rest of their lives a living hell.

Yep this

And the kicking off when you dare suggest that this is not a good idea. I mean from the adults, rather than the kids

Talk of 'sensible use' and 'parental controls' and 'helping them learn how to use it sensibly'

Bullshit.

Its like giving a cat a mouse to play with in the hope they become friends.

This is horrendous and I'm really shocked by the defence arguments in 2026. How were they 'supposed to.know' she didn't consent? Maybe because she was 13, and didn't consent?

I agree with you but you're agreeing with what Im saying

They dont think its wrong, because they know they're entitled to act like this. The girl is there for the taking.

They only 'know' its wrong because its ended up in court and they're being viewed as predators.

I suspect at the time it didnt enter their heads that they shouldnt be doing it.

85% of 12 year olds have smartphones
40% of 13 year olds have social media profiles
27% of 12 year olds have viewed pornography
65% of 5-16 year olds have a device with internet access in their bedrooms overnight

So, the chances are that very many parents are raising boys like this, inadvertently.

Only 17% of parents remove devices overnight

They couldn’t see her face, how would they know it was consensual?

It’s been shown time and time again that passers by don’t intervene. We as a society are so disconnected from each other that people just look the other way.

You see it on MN all the time, so many women say they wouldn’t intervene.

Its well known that passers by dont intervene in things

Who were these passers by though? I would wager they werent sensible sounding adults by the sound of what they said. Im wondering if they were older teen boys? Is it mentioned anywhere who they were?

I think this lets them off the hook.

I think they knew it was wrong but they’re being told by everything they read online that they should take who / what they want.

I renember vividly watching the prettiest girl in our class sitting there in year 10 letting two boys feel her up under her shirt and bra whilst the rest of the class waited for the teacher.

The look on the girl’s face was so resigned, like this was her lot in life.

This was decades ago and nothing has changed.

The passers by must also have thought it was consensual too thought.
They called her a slut. I'd like to think they'd have intervened if they thought she was being forced.

You're putting a lot of expectation on a young kid, she's not a police officer!!!

No I dont think thats what the jurors were led by

Its not unusual for kids to be struck, shocked, the friend to also freeze, in a gaggle of kids there will be some laughing along, perhaps nervously, perhaps genuinely, not really comprehending whats happening. Perhaps she was telling them to stop, perhaps she was asked to look out and see if people were coming, perhaps she was trying to avoid the whole situation. Im guessing she was also 13, these are young kids we're talking about, not big bolshy teens (and that applies to the boys too). Im not sure wht I would have done at that age instantly, perhaps been scared, perhaps angry, perhaps trying to laugh it off if I thought my friend was also laughing along. She said her friend looked scared though.

I think the jurors were led by this concept that the girl could or did consent

Im not convinced, although someone said it was in a link upthread, that the girl said she wanted to have sex TO the boys or the boy.

But what if you weren’t alone and your friend was right there. A friend who ran in to grab you, and that’s all it took for the boys to run off. Why didn’t the friend do that much earlier?

People make judgements of what they’d do in the cold light of day without understanding the effect of terror on the nervous system. I was attacked as a young teen and not only was I paralysed with fear I tried to shout and my voice had gone, and nothing would come out. It’s actually terrifying to know you could potentially be that defenceless if it happened again.