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.

It's not that clear if she said to her friend that she didn't want to have sex before or after the act... Can anyone clarify?

Awful.

I watched the manosphere yesterday. I remember at the time thinking I don’t know why everyone is so pissed off about this - these guys are just clearly idiots on the grift. And then I kept seeing boys come up and fist pump them in the street like they are their heroes. And it made me quite worried for young girls.

I don’t think it matters. To have gang sex with 3 guys takes a level of consent beyond silence!

Shocking the court don’t think so

The average girl doesn't. Some girls do.

Having followed this case I was also shocked at the verdict
Are we now going to to have gangs of teenage boys roaming the streets hunting for young girls to rape without consequences?

Yet even when we 100% know they're 12, men can still walk away with no punishment, because we dont want to ruin their lives www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-39305042

She had a witness who heard her say no apparently is irrelevant. Don't even try to convince me this was a fair result, there's a strong male bias with society and that's reflected in juries.

I agree.

Defence barrister seems to say that they boys are all very immature and kids can’t be judged by the standards of adults so likelihood is this was a regrettable but consensual encounter and the taking turns, doing it in the bushes, clapping and jeering can all be explained away with reference to their adolescence.

Yet a failure to scream and shout and fight back on the girl’s part is evidence that she consented?

Where’s the sympathy for her adolescence? When a scared teenage girl is having sex acts performed on her in the bushes by a gang of jeering men she is likely too terrified to scream and shout and fight lest the repercussions be worse than what she was already enduring.

Sadly, unless you shout or fight back defence lawyers will argue you showed consent. Some people freeze and are so afraid they don't fight or scream. People react differently.

So it appears the case was found not guilty by jurors since the defence said she consented.

The jury was out for a very long time - over nine hours - so there were holdouts for some time. I am surprised that it could be charged as anything but rape because she is a child who therefore doesn’t get to give consent - that is what ‘the age of consent’ means, right?

Agree - horrifying verdict.

Imagine being the mothers of these beasts.

I know. It's awful. Unfortunately though I think that doesn't count as evidence.

Is there any way for the public to petition against this ruling?

I know due process needs to be followed and everyone has the right to a defence but how do the defence sleep at night?

The justice system needs an overhaul.

I think it does evidentially given the post above where the defence seems to have been that she did consent by being willing (whatever that looks like) and only after the act did she say she didnt want to

So, if she said it after the act to her friend and this was the 'no', thats what the defense will use

If its before, then no I dont understand where the defense comes in

Bottom line is we don't know why they were found not guilty.

All we know is that the jury heard evidence from both sides and were not 'so certain they were sure' that the offence was made out.

Juries don't give reasons and it's illegal to try and find out what happened.

I think this sort of case would still go to jury after Lammy's reforms are enacted so there's be no narrative from the Judge to explain it.

My guess would be that if they were using balance of probability rather than certainty the outcome might have been different.

This is an appalling verdict. She was a young girl - she was not capable of consenting to losing her virginity on a public footpath with three boys.

My ds is 7. He has a “girlfriend” who says she is “dating him”. Obviously they are not dating - they are acting out ideas of what they think adult behaviour is like.

I think the same applies here - these kids have seen and heard things probably online which are absolutely not appropriate for kids of their age to actually be doing.

But at this age they have ALL been taught explicitly about what constitutes consent. They are capable of understanding that consent must be absolutely crystal clear and that a participant can change their mind at any point in time.

This is a miscarriage of justice, and another shame on our legal system

Is there a judgement though? Does the judge give a judgement in cases like this?

Why haven't they been jailed for the video? They shared the video with others. They made and shared a video of a child. That video is now out there forever

Not if, as I read the press report, there was a jury and the defendants were not guilty.

If they were guilty and thus sentenced then the sentencing remarks would likely be published but if not guilty then they're discharged.

Kids are never prosecuted for that sort of thing let alone jailed!

In fact even if these 3 had been found guilty of the rape they wouldnt be 'jailed' in the traditional sense, they may not have been given a custodial sentence or if they were it would be a secure unit for a short period of time.

I think part of the problem was that the friend wasn’t seen as a credible witness. It’s wrong, but that’s how it works.

Plus, I would guess the ages of all concerned. 🤷‍♀️

This is heinous, what the hell is going on?

I'm sure that article has changed in the last half an hour. When I looked at it, it had bold typeface stating their ages at the time of the incident and hers was 12. Now the bold typeface is gone and it says she was 13.

Not all men right? Come on to absolute fuck.