What punishment do you think the British legal system would deem appropriate for someone who rapes a 5 year old?

[Mintyy]

I'm not going to link because I saw this in the Daily Mail. But, really, am truly horrified.

Assuming again Seeker, for one offence he could of faced a hefty sentence

What am I assuming?

Just because we can't guarantee he hasn't offended before doiesnt mean I would wish him sentenced for something he hadn't been charged with at all.

For me I need to leave the thread, and I am really sorry that this has brought up some horrible experiences for you dotty and Couthy in particular. But these sorts of debates on MN hardly ever move on. And I am sure it's because we are cultured into revenge-seeking and conflict, rather than what is the best outcomes for both parties and potential future victims.

I don't see it as punishment or revenge, I see it as child protection.

Exactly child protection

Dotty - so why mention the fact that we can't guarantee that he hasn't offended before?

Because we can't seeker, anyway I'm leaving this now have a lot to deal with at the moment.

We can't guarantee that anyone convicted of anything hasn't done it before. Why is it relevant?

"It was the fault of the world and society."

Anything but his own fault hey...

Like Wheezo a long way upthread,, I would like to see parents of minors convicted of crimes held accountable in some significant way for their child's actions.

A lawyer once told me that if I ever sit on a jury (which I haven't done), you can tell whether someone has been convicted of a previous offence by whether the defence lawyer uses the phrase "of previous good character". If the defence lawyer doesn't say this, then the chances are that they have previous convictions. (Which the jury isn't allowed to know about, of course.)

About this individual case: even if there are mitigating circumstances (the boy was only 14, he had always previously been well-behaved, he acted on the spur of the moment, etc etc) society still needs to show its disapproval. We have to show that as a society we care about the difference between right and wrong. I'm not one of those people who thinks we should lock kids up and throw away the key but we do need to recognise the seriousness of the offence and we do need to make the boy in question understand the seriousness of the offence. Think of the message being sent to this little girl: you were victim of a serious sexual assault at the age of four, but we don't think it's important enough to punish your attacker in any way. Think how she will feel about this in 10 or 20 years' time.

Received today

Thank you for your email regarding the sentence given at Cambridge Crown
Court.

As you will no doubt be aware anyone can contact the Attorney General's
Office about and unduly lenient sentence and it only takes one complaint
to trigger the process.

This case has been brought to the attention of the Attorney General and
he has requested further details from the Crown Prosecution Service so
that the Law Officers can decide whether or not to refer the sentences
to the Court of Appeal as being unduly lenient .

We will contact you again once a decision has been made.

Yours sincerely,

James Ross
Correspondence Unit

Forgive me for not having read the entire thread, I have largely avoided this story due to triggering issues. I was orally raped as a 6 year old by a 15 year old boy. At the time I knew what he did (on several occasions) was not right and I did not like what he was doing either but did not know how to stop it and felt powerless. The boy in question was the eldest son of the woman my Uncle married and with whom he had another three children, a boy and two girls. Years later I know my Uncles eldest son was physically, mentally and emotionally abused by this woman to the extent that at the age of 48 he has never recovered. I can only imagine what the older boy experienced at the hands of this woman ho called herself his mother but hated boys.

I am not for one moment forgiving my abuser for what he did or excusing his behaviour -I still have problems psychologically as a result of what he did to me. But now I understand how fucked up he was I can pity him....just a little bit.

Obviously he did not have access to the internet unlike the boy in this case and I hope that there is strong help in place to prevent this boy ever doing something like that again.

Because of my experience I can understand...just a little bit that sometimes people are made into who they are. However, at 14/15/16 years of age then they are old enough to make choices and know that actions must have consequences. I hope the consequences this boy is experiencing are enough. I hope this little girl is getting the right support of the kind I never had.

And today having seen the interview with her Mum on This Morning I am just a little bit teary.

Update on this story in the mail today

The boy who raped the little girl will be going back to their old school, where the victim's brother is going to be going from September

The boy who raped the little girl still lives on the same street as his victim

So shocking and a far cry from what some on this thread claimed was going to happen

Why could he not have gone into a young offenders place or something?

The outcome of this is outrageous and so so wrong.

I really don't think that he should be living on the same street as his victim.

That's just so so so wrong.