Teen boy avoids jail after rape of girl, 12

I'm sure my response is emotionally driven but I feel that a 13 year old male who rapes a girl should go to prison. He's 16 now. He should be locked up.

There was another case like this where the victim was hounded by the rapists family and friends until she took her own life. These revolting creatures have also desecrated her grave.

Not sure if this is the same case as my phone won’t load

Fuck ‘kindness’. Let’s be ‘fair’ or ‘considerate’ or many other things. But I don’t think the overwhelming focus on kindness is at all helpful.

I agree. "Kind" is bollocks. What it means is very narrow.

He killed her, though. That is what happened. He killed her through his actions. How utterly heartbreaking.

It could be that we agree, I do think he should be tried for manslaughter.

And yes I do believe there are some circumstances where someone can be both a rapist and abused/exploited/vulnerable themselves

Would you say that should be relevant in an adult rape case?

Poor girl. He spiked her drink for goodness sake, he knew exactly what he was doing. Reading between the lines of her father's statement it sounds like she committed suicide, so I cannot imagine their grief.
And the people excusing the actions of the boy is making me really angry! Just stop it. The age of criminal responsibility is 10, he was 13.

I'm aware that the examples given aren't applicable here, they were in response to a question I was asked not directly relating to this case but why I felt it is important to take context and background into consideration when sentencing is happening. The age of criminal culpability in the UK is 10, one of the youngest in the entire world by quite a lot. I personally would like to see it raised I don't think it's high enough.

The criminal age of responsibility in the UK is 10 - so while not prison, youth custody (which amounts to a secure children's home) from 10 is an option for a Judge sentencing in a case of rape like this one.

We do know what happened here. A thirteen year old boy raped a twelve year old, who was traumatised to it to the extent that she killed herself. And then a judge told him off and said that “wasn’t kind”.

Rape has been decriminalised in the UK.

I’d also like to point out that judges in the UK are paid far less than most lawyers and, unless they’re very senior, given no physical protection. The majority of judges say they feel physically unsafe in Court. This means that the best lawyers don’t choose to become judges. The verdict is a joke because the judge was an idiot. And the judge was an idiot because the justice system has been underfunded for so long that no one competent wants the job.

Where this is all heading is that local communities, failed by the justice system, will take matters into their own hands. The criminal juwtoce ststem was actually invented for the protection of criminals because without justice what you get is lynchings by enraged mobs.

RIP poor little girl, I’m so sorry.

I don't think we can be sure she has though. We're seeing a very limited snippet of her comments, those that the journalist has chosen to include. We'd really need to see the full judgement before we could say that with any certainty.

My thoughts exactly,she made it sound like he ate all the M&Ms.

"I’m not sure it’s right to say that you were selfish but you were not kind"

FFS, that makes it sound like he wouldn't share his sweeties.

Yep

"Boys will be raping little bastards boys"

Thanks for that @PoisonMaple I'm going to do this today.

Some of the responses on this thread have upset me more than when I read the story in the first place. Why am I always surprised by how many people want to excuse the behaviour of a rapist? I should have learned by now.

This is my contribution.

I practice Family Law, I am a mother to 3 daughters, one of whom is 12, I am a woman, but above all else, I'm a human.

I do find it depressing how in cases of rape perpetrated by a young man so many people - men and women - are desperate to minimise it and to try to mitigate the effects on the rapist. Even to the extent of holding the victim responsible (to varying degrees).

It is all very ‘promising young man’; can’t let this ruin his life. And so awful.

The language used by the judge here is beyond awful. At this point I loathe the concept of ‘kindness’. It’s insidious and the source of a lot of societal problems in 2024.

Fuck ‘kindness’. Let’s be ‘fair’ or ‘considerate’ or many other things. But I don’t think the overwhelming focus on kindness is at all helpful.

There is room for considering the reasons the boy raped a girl. I'm not advocating prison or the death penalty. I can understand criminals may benefit from rehabilitation and that punishment alone may not be enough.

But the judge appears to have effectively completely discounted the devastating effect on the girl and her family, and wider society. As if it was inconsequential that she was raped, and devastated.

It's gross to see that disparity in consideration between the affect on the boy and on the girl.

Let's put it down to youthful exuberance eh?

I was astounded by the judges comments but on reading the whole thread and there's so many apologists for him, including someone who states they work with victims of rape, saying "ah but there's an excuse for it, poor them, the rapists the one we have to centre". Fuck sake.

If he's old enough to spike a girls drink, get her compromised, and rape her, he's old enough to go to a YOI.

It's not just about him, it's justice for the victim's family (as she's sadly no longer here to see justice done) and wider society, this effectively sends a message that its fine to rape if you're 13.

No doubt he needs work done to address the reasons he targeted and raped a girl, but that should be in addition to his sentence. Imo.

I think that the judge was reflecting back some of the boy's own language re kindness/selfishness, but in doing so, made it appear as though he was downgrading the severity. The boy was also only 13 at the time if the offence, so i'm not sure that a custodial sentence would necessarily have been appropriate. It's absolutely tragic that the victim took her own life after this though. I think that it's probably a pretty complex case and that it's difficult to judge without having a lot more details and the court transcripts.

It's infuriating,he destroyed this girl and the fuckwitted judge is talking about not being 'kind'.

Thank you for reporting.

I don't know this girl's name but it doesn't lessen the sympathy I feel for her. She was just hanging out with her friend drinking lemonade in a park, because she was 12 years old. She had her drink spiked and them she was taken into the bushes by the boy 'for some fun'.

That was calculated, deliberate, and definite rape.

He should be in a YOI.

My heart absolutely breaks for her family.

Rapists honestly deserve to be put to death.