Another horrific death

[Arcadia]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-57511912

Such a horrendous story where a girl of 15 died, with compressions to her neck, but only three years in prison? Crazy.

Yes that is a good point. Doesn't Scotland have age of consent at 16?!

It does, and it appears he was tried for the offence of sexual activity with a child, but they recognise an element of consent on the part of a child over 13.

The fact that the story is pitched around the fact that he 'left her to die' doesn't really cover it.

There is something deeply wrong with our society that this horrific crime got such a short sentence.

Poor girl.

That poor girl.

All of our poor girls and women who fall victim to men.

When will this end?

When I first read this I thought she was alive and that the sentence was too low.

What an utterly vile man, this poor child.

I have nothing useful to add but I do ask if he will go on the sex offender register? I'm assuming not as her cause of death wasn't down to his assault of her, but the zero temps he left her in so he doesn't get that on his record?

"His defence counsel Shelagh McColl QC said he would have to live with what had happened for the rest of his life: "He was a young man who would have been under the influence of alcohol himself and he's a young man who has made a bad decision with catastrophic consequences," she said."

I hope the memory haunts him every day for the rest of his life as it will for her family.

I'm a lawyer (not criminal) and I could not plead mitigation for this type of person.

I was a criminal defence lawyer in Scotland for many years and, to be honest, you just have to treat it as it is, just a job.

@OhHolyJesus

What an utterly vile man, this poor child.

I have nothing useful to add but I do ask if he will go on the sex offender register? I'm assuming not as her cause of death wasn't down to his assault of her, but the zero temps he left her in so he doesn't get that on his record?

"His defence counsel Shelagh McColl QC said he would have to live with what had happened for the rest of his life: "He was a young man who would have been under the influence of alcohol himself and he's a young man who has made a bad decision with catastrophic consequences," she said."

I hope the memory haunts him every day for the rest of his life as it will for her family.

He was convicted of sexual activity with a child as well though so he will go on the register.

God that's horrendous. Poor girl and her family.

Just as disturbing is the young man only being an 18 year old yet still the spectre of violent porn consumption lingers over this case.

The details about breast biting and neck compression are just awful and I doubt it was consensual. Where did he learn that? I think I have a good idea where.

Sickening.

@TrifleCat

There is something deeply wrong with our society that this horrific crime got such a short sentence.

Poor girl.

There is indeed. Her poor family, what an awful thing for them to have to live with.

It’s horrible and I saw on the news where they showed the bench she’d died on. I’ve sat on it recently .

There seems to be a blind spot in the law where having such lack of care for someone’s welfare but not meaning to kill them gets you such a short sentence. I remember reading a story where a man pushed his partner down the stairs and she didn’t get up and just lay there. Then he went to bed. In the morning she was still there and he called an ambulance. She eventually died and he got a similar sentence. It’s callous behaviour.

It’s hard to prove he meant to kill her and it’s possible that he didn’t but it’s such an insult and we should have higher standards of people. You shouldn’t be able to act that way and should be severely punished.

Porn, porn, porn.

I don't want to minimise at all, but the perpetrator was only 18. I don't mean 'he's not a peodophile' by that, I mean 'where the fuck did an 18 year old learn to strangle a wee lassie?'

The next day he sent her texts stating "Are you alive?" In a message to a friend he wrote "I had no choice but to leave what was I supposed to do."

ANYTHING.
Doing anything would have been preferable.
That poor girl. Her poor family.

He was 18. Legally an adult. If he wasn't mature enough to not abuse a minor and leave her to die then he's not mature enough to have sex.

I'm starting to think men need to pass some sort of course before they're allowed to legally have sex. Too many dead girls whose consent is assumed.

Why was that not rape? A child could not consent to that, surely?
I wonder if the prosecution could appeal against the leniency of the sentence?

@oldwomanwhoruns

Why was that not rape? A child could not consent to that, surely? I wonder if the prosecution could appeal against the leniency of the sentence?

Because rape requires penetration whereas the offence he was committed of covers sexual touching. He's guilty under statute because she was between 13 and 16. It's all to do with statutory rape etc.

I am so fucking glad that my daughter is a lesbian.

^ I would prefer if mine was too, she’s not. It’s a fucking worry.

'Fulton said there was heavy petting and admitted a charge of sexual activity with a child. He had bitten the teenager's breasts and compressed her neck.

They had shared the vodka equally, which Fulton said left Mhari "obviously drunk. It was like she had lost all motor skills, she was too drunk to do anything."'

She was too drunk to consent- so that's sexual assault etc.

The fact that it says heavy petting- and that included biting her and throttling her, with no further comment. Is really sending a terrible message. That 15 yo girls are into that sort of thing, essentially. And of course she was too drunk to consent.

The way these sorts of acts are unquestioningly reported as just bog standard is really awful.

'Because rape requires penetration whereas the offence he was committed of covers sexual touching. He's guilty under statute because she was between 13 and 16. It's all to do with statutory rape etc.'

We don't have 'statutory rape' in the UK. I just checked the law in Scotland and it's pretty much the same as in England Wales.

The equivalent to what I think of as a USA concept is under 13- no excuses.

From the BBC article
“A man who caused the death of an underage girl by buying her alcohol and abandoning her on a winter's night has been jailed for more than three years”

That reads as if more than three years is a positive thing. It’s a fucking disgrace.
RIP Mhari.

Absolutely awful and her poor parents will never get over it. The three year sentence is such a disgusting insult.

@NiceGerbil

'Because rape requires penetration whereas the offence he was committed of covers sexual touching. He's guilty under statute because she was between 13 and 16. It's all to do with statutory rape etc.'

We don't have 'statutory rape' in the UK. I just checked the law in Scotland and it's pretty much the same as in England Wales.

The equivalent to what I think of as a USA concept is under 13- no excuses.

I know that, it's not a defined term in Scotland but what I was meaning was that the legislation is written that way to cover cases of boyfriend/girlfriend where there's an underage party. So, still an offence but not rape.

@NiceGerbil

'Fulton said there was heavy petting and admitted a charge of sexual activity with a child. He had bitten the teenager's breasts and compressed her neck.

They had shared the vodka equally, which Fulton said left Mhari "obviously drunk. It was like she had lost all motor skills, she was too drunk to do anything."'

She was too drunk to consent- so that's sexual assault etc.

The fact that it says heavy petting- and that included biting her and throttling her, with no further comment. Is really sending a terrible message. That 15 yo girls are into that sort of thing, essentially. And of course she was too drunk to consent.

The way these sorts of acts are unquestioningly reported as just bog standard is really awful.

Complaint about that language - that's really not heavy petting

It's local to me so being heavily reported. He's reported as saying they stopped sexual activity as she was too drunk, so it never got to the point of penetrative sex.

Obviously that's just his version of events.

He's been placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely for sexual contact with a minor. I feel that the charges were just all wrong here - culpable homicide is what you get if your dangerous driving kills someone, this was a whole other level of criminality.