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

[Lougle]

The three boys accused of taking it in turns to rape a girl have been found not guilty on all counts despite some of the incident being filmed. How could that be? That poor girl. I believe in justice, I wasn't in court. I just can't understand it though.

Im astounded at this. Who wouldnt intervene?

I know it’s out of context but if those words quoted by the defence are accurately transcribed that’s horrendous. Slut shaming a 12 year old and arguing a grey area around her lack of consent to be gang raped because she fancied one of the boys and went into the bushes with him?

That poor girl. Rape has been decriminalised in this country. We all fucking know it.

No one goes from virgin to gang bang in one fell swoop though. Especially at 12 ffs.

Any mitigating factors based on the girls age at all?

“She didn’t scream.”
Alright then. Except for fight, flight, or freeze.

“She flirted with one of the boys on the tram.”
Alright then. Flirting = consent (which can’t legally be given) to an underage gang bang on camera. Got it.

Poor poor girl.
I can’t stand the defending lawyers comments how can a woman say that.
sexual assault and rape trials should have specialists and shouldn’t rely on jury’s in my opinion

I agree

And they wonder why victims don’t come forward

I can imagine a 13 year-old girl going into a bush to kiss a boy.

I CANNOT imagine a 13 year-old girl going into a bush to lose her virginity in a gang bang in a homemade porn film. Nope. Not buying it.

It's actually a very common reason given for the acquittal of rapists. You've never come across this? Happens all the time. "We mustn't ruin his future for one little mistake"
Gah!

I don’t buy it either. Not at 12 years old.

See: Ivy League Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner. I believe the judge was a Stanford alum who didn’t want this poor boy’s life ruined.

Not guilty does not mean innocent , (that is why they don’t say innocent) it just means the jury didn’t have enough evidence to say guilty without any doubts.

Can it be appealed? The defence barrister’s words were awful, like going back in time

She was 13
But I can't actually imagine three young teen boys, in the middle of puberty, trying to gang rape either. One at least was also a virgin.
Some boys at 13 are tiny, very much wee boys, compared to girls the same age.

But clearly the sex happened so the question comes down to consent.

Agree those quotes are just too much. How did we get to hearing that kind of thing again.

We don’t know what evidence was given in court and we don’t know what happened so I’m not sure why some posters seem so certain that they know what’s happened. The jury can only go on the evidence given in court. If they debated for 9 hours then at least they gave it a lot of thought.

It doesn't matter what she thought.

Even if she thought she was going there for sex. If she said no when it came to it, then that's rape. She's allowed to back out, change her mind, revoke consent.

I mean, I doubt that's what she thought was going on, but even if it was, it's irrelevant.

Indeed. Never shout 'rape!' Because nobody responds to that. Shout 'fire!' Because that affects everyone and there's a higher likelihood that people will respond.

Well quite. What he was saying was "I forgive you for damaging my property"
"The jewel in his crown" my arse!

No i have never seen this as a reason given by a jury. I have seen cases where judges have used this as a reason when handing a custodial sentence but not the actual verdict from a jury.

I don't believe this is "very common" as you state

Given that the youngest boy was only 12 and cannot in law consent to any sexual activity, technically the girl was sexually assaulting him.

100 agree
I HATE this victim blaming narrative of ... i would do this.. I would do that
Would ya ?
How do you know ?

Judge Nolan in the Republic of Ireland often gives this as a reason when letting off rapists and wife beaters.
Look up cathal crotty case

They were all just so so young.
12 is barely out of primary school!