Marcus Fakana gets prison sentence in Dubai.

[Ohnonotmeagain]

This is the 18 year old lad who had a holiday romance with a 17 year old girl in Dubai. She was just short of 18.

her parents found out and reported him to the Dubai authorities before he returned home.

his poor parents aren’t well off and had to return home to work leaving him there.

he’s now been sentenced to 1 year in prison.

aibu to think this poor boy should never have been brought before court.

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.”

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.

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)

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.

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.

@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.

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.

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 Northern Ireland is essentially the same as in England for these offences.

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 don't know if there exists an offense called "statutory rape" in any jurisdiction (certainly not many) - it's simply an umbrella term for nonforcible sex where one of the individuals is below the age of consent.

It is a term used by various lawyers in the UK (including on their websites) but it's a term with a "general" definition, rather a legal one.

I find this attitude really interesting - is googling local laws genuinely something you do before you go on holiday to Spain or Turkey?

It’d be something I’d do if I was concerned my actions might be questionable. So if I was off to Amsterdam. I’d of checked about rules of weed consumption for tourists. Good idea to know about drinking in public. sometimes you can’t have an open container of alchohol in certain places.

Some places say that you have to carry iD at all times or get a fine if unable to produce when asked. It’s the sort of information you find in the know before you go section of the lonely planet guide to your destination of choice.

D.

Yes, checking local laws is something lots of people do particularly if they are gay. The quotes above about a girl "consenting" if age 13, 14 or 15 are interesting and of course understand why prosecutions may not always take place if she consents. The FLDS girls spiritually married at 13 - 15 might well feel they consent. The issue is the law sometimes says although you think you consent you cannot consent. The Rotherham girls in some cases were offered all kinds of presents if they "consented" but it was still an offence and the perpetrators were punished.

Anyway I don't think anyone really disagrees on the thread - Dubai law is quite strict and the adult male who thought sex outside marriage with someone who was 17 was okay would have been better advised to check the law before proceeding.

The issue of whether we think our laws in eg England are always the morally right ones and perfect on these issues even as they change over time is always fascinating. Do we have objectively better laws or are we being imperialistic etc to think our laws are better?

I thought of this thread when reading today a British lady was detained and will need to appear in court although has been released as she entered India with a Garmin inReach device on her - GPS for hikers etc banned in India apparently. www.ndtv.com/india-news/scottish-hiker-carrying-garmin-inreach-gps-device-detained-at-delhi-airport-7389269

Loved this: "The issue of whether we think our laws in eg England are always the morally right ones and perfect on these issues even as they change over time is always fascinating. Do we have objectively better laws or are we being imperialistic etc to think our laws are better?"

Having lived and worked in 9 separate countries I often think about this. There are things that are so sensible and work so well in each country (as well as things that really frustrate you and make you furious!), and I've always thought it would be great if we could implement the best of each country and ditch the worst. But as you rightly state, who determines "the best"? They're the best in my view only - not everyone will agree. You can bet your bottom dollar that Emiratis are not filling chat forums with angst about their laws - they're prefectly content with them.

I wouldn't go to a Muslim country and have sex outside of marriage.

You do know that isn’t always a choice?

rape happens in Muslim countries.

Yes and that's unfortunate and it's disgusting that rape victims get in trouble for reporting their crimes.

But I still wouldn't go on holiday to a Muslim country and choose to have extra marital sex.

Zimunya, I think we studied a bit of that years ago on my law degree in a very interesting module. Is there objective right and wrong and all that kind of thing?

Eg I don't support the very recent change in English law of youngest age of marriage from 16 to 18 as some religions in the Uk don't allow sex outside marriage and yet you are allowed sex under English law (and can marry in Scotland aged 16) so I think we should either have had age 18 as age for marriage or increased age of consent to sex to 18. I am sure most people won't agree with me.
The the assisted dying law proposal not yet law which I don't support - will allow some killing of older people other than at their own hand etc.

The biggest issue might well be cultures in the UK who may not support democracy and hope it can be over turned to theocracy. In a sense we kind of have that as the King is head of the C of E and we have Christianity worked in right through all kinds of bits of our laws but the not perhaps in the same way some might want the law changed.

I am old enough to have been born in a time when even in the UK sex before marriage was not regarded as okay although it was lawful. I was even a virgin all through university.

Hardly!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce90eljzr0eo

What good is protesting in London going to do? He committed the crime, he needs to do his time and move on with his life. Hopefully the publicity from this case will make people think twice about visiting Dubai and for those that do go there, think twice about breaking the law.

Logically speaking I don’t know if it will do any good tbh (wish it would though!) but it’s perfectly understandable that his family and friends will be feeling helpless and want to make some noise about it. They have every right to express themselves @OonaStubbs I can’t see myself just accepting such an outcome if it was my little cousin or something.

They could well be worried for his mental health and safety, and the long term impact of that. you really don’t know.

She said: "It does not warrant a year in jail, doesn't warrant tearing this family apart and ruining this young 18-year-old's life.
"I'm confident that, on appeal, the custodial sentence will be overturned and he will be allowed to return home.
"The question is how long is that going to take and how much effort is that going to take, whether that's British intervention or the public support in telling Dubai this is unacceptable?"

The above is a quote from Detained in Dubai from the article. They obviously have experience of this and hope they are right about the likely outcome of the appeal.

I’d agree with you about raising the age of marriage to 18. I’d like to see the age of consent raised too or at least under age sex being taken much more seriously. With some Romeo and Juliet laws to account for teenage stupidity/ hormones. An adult who has sex with a child should be looking at automatic jail time.