To think the result of this rape trial is disgusting

[joystir59]

Man gets off completely Scot=free for raping a 12 year old girl, and that this result gives such a wrong message to men, in a world in which girls are never considered too young anyway. I'm enraged!
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-39305042

And how do you intend to ban them?

So if two consenting 40 year olds have sex, but weren't already in a relationship, would you have them both jailed?

Presumably punishing people for having 1 night stands would also lead to many rape victims being jailed too.

Oh that is utterly ridiculous!
If I want a one night stand as a older teenager - I have every right to it!
It's not a small price to pay, it's an infringement on liberties.
And it's completely impossible to define or enforce.

I agree OP!

In fact, lets ban sex before marriage.

And bring back National Service too.

The government response to the Stern review (established to investigate how rape complaints are handled by public authorities) stated that "38 per cent of all rapes recorded by the police are committed against children under 16 years of age".

Ban one night stands?

OP, have you ever considered moving to the gulf states? I think perhaps you might fit in well there. They have some very similar views on criminalising sexual behaviour in order to "protect" women.

Read the report op, She looked older, consented to sex and even police, taxi driver and others didn't think she was underage.
Good for the judge with her head screwed on. Shame on the parents letting a 12 year old out and at risk. They should have been the ones before the court.

Thinking out loud a bit, but how about a legal curfew for unsupervised under 16s?

In fact, lets ban sex before marriage

Lets ban all sex unless the intent is to make babies.
If a man wants sex for any other reason then bust him for rape.

I feel sorry for this kids, that life led her to be in this situation pretending to be older, having casual at 12. However I also feel sorry for the 19 year old lad who thought he had sex with a willing 16 year old and found out she was 12. Every newspaper article has led with how he's got away with rape. His life is going to be ruined when the taxi driver and the police all agreed she acted the age she told him she was

Banning sex between consenting adults isn't going to happen.

However, any adult who participates in sex should be held responsible for the consequences their actions. If that means that an adult has sex with a young person who they don't know, and it turns out that person is a child, then they should be clear that it is a crime, and expect to be punished for it. There have been enough cases of children and young teens who 'pass' as older, that any adult should be aware of this possibility. The right to sexual freedom has to be balances by personal responsibility.

If you don't want to take the risk, get to know someone before you have sex with them.

Would you get rid of 'reasonable belief' altogether Errol?

If the offender in this case had gone on a couple of dates with the victim beforehand and still reasonably believed her to be 12, would you think a complete discharge to be appropriate?

Just trying to understand the logistics of what you're advocating (sorry if I'm making you repeat yourself, its been a long thread and i don't want to trawl back through it)

I blame the person who picked her out of the taxi line and decided to have casual sex with her but as far as he was aware she was 16 so he didn't decide to have sex with her, they decided to have sex. The taxi driver thought she was 20. You'd hope that I'd he thought she was 12 and they were acting sexually in the back of the cab he'd do something. The police thought she was old enough to be out.

I would hazard a guess that if this man had met up with the girl a few times before having sex he would have been punished more harshly for 'grooming'.

I would ban one night stands to stop girls being raped. A small price to pay.

How about making burkas compulsory as well? After all, we don't want sinful ideas, do we?

He raped a child because he didn't take the time to check out her claim of being 16

How was he supposed to check out her claim? Everyone who interacted with her that night (apart from those who knew her age) thought she was between 17 and 20. He was faced with a girl who claimed to be 16 and looked like she was at least that age. What was he supposed to do? Demand her birth certificate?

as for defending the courts- the statistics on rape convictions are a pure disgusting joke

Nearly 60% of rape prosecutions result in a conviction for rape. That is higher than the conviction rate for many other major crimes. The 6% figure that is frequently quoted refers to the number of reported rapes that result in a conviction for rape. Most cases never make it to court, the most common reason being the victim withdrawing the complaint.

I would hazard a guess that if this man had met up with the girl a few times before having sex he would have been punished more harshly for 'grooming'

But he didn't, so that point couldn't be less relevant to this situation.

looked like she was at least that age

Correction - looked and acted like she was at least that age.

TedEriksen - the point has come up because of suggestions he ought to have got to know the girl first. I asked Errol (one of the posters making that suggestion) what he view would be if the offender had met the victim a few times and still genuinely believed her to be 16.

NoWinNoFfi

My mistake - I misunderstood funnylikeaclown's post completely. Apologies to funnylikeaclown.

Apologies if its been stated but does anyone know how it came to court to start with?

It's in all the news reports. The child was worried she might be pregnant and spoke to her sister. Then a GP became involved and her sister reported it to the police. Because of the age of the child in question, under 13, the police were always going to have to investigate.

It wasnt in the news report I read. Thank you