Rapist may be out in as little as 4 years

[happymerryberries]

'A 16-year-old schoolboy who raped a teacher has been given a life sentence at the Old Bailey.

The judge told the youth that he had violated the teacher's classroom - her place of safety - and had left her "physically and mentally scarred".

He said he agreed with a doctor who said his behaviour suggested that he had planned or rehearsed the rape in a fantasy.

The youth, who had pleaded guilty to rape at an earlier hearing, will be eligible for parole after serving four-and-a-half years.

But he will not be released until doctors consider he is no longer a danger.

The teenager, from south London, was 15 when he attacked the 28-year-old teacher on her second day at a central London school in September last year.

Brendan Kelly, prosecuting, said the teacher was in her classroom when she was grabbed round her neck and pulled to the back of the room.

The court was told that the 5ft 11in, powerfully-built teenager head-butted and threatened to kill the woman as she fought him off.

But she was overpowered by the pupil and sexually assaulted. After the attack, the teacher ran naked to the headteacher's office.

Describing the impact of the assault on the victim, Mr Kelly said: "The effect of this attack upon her has been devastating.

"Since the incident she has been unable to teach. She anticipates that once 'all this' has been put to bed she proposes to go back on a trial period - not to the school in question, she will go to another school.

"Her confidence has been devastated, her social life equally has been devastated.She lives in fear of returning to her vocation."

Judge Moss lifted a court order protecting the youth's identity but stayed this until Friday afternoon after the defence said it wanted the decision reviewed by the High Court.

He ordered that Westminster City Boys School, central London, where the teacher was attacked after working only two days in September last year, could be identified.

After the case, the teacher said: "I was very glad to be alive because I did not think I would be.

"I honestly thought that I was going to be murdered, on top of everything else."

She said she is now trying to rebuild her life. '

Make you feel all nice and safe, doesn't it?

he could be out in as little as four years. It makes me feel sick.

Detention of minors is difficult though, as in the cases of the boys who killed Jamie Bulger.
The teenager concerned could have been given a longer detention and then released, this may or may not include pyschiatric help and rehabilition. At least there is some chance that if/when he is released that there will be no danger of him committing an offence like this again. I mean what does prison really do for criminals aside from making them better ones? We have to believe in education and rehabilitation, especially of young people. Obviously there are lines in the sand and some crimes should mean a lifetime of detention, end of....
And I say that as former rape victim.

I did use this board to vent last night but i also stand by what i said too. Although it was posted in anger i truly feel that 'rehibilition' doesnt work.

If shooting/hanging/branding or whatever other suggestions were made last night, can protect a woman in the future then good. Mistakes may be made, but i wouldnt be willing to take that risk.

Huggy, you say you would be willing to take that risk - but it wouldn't be you that was taking the risk, would it? And I still haven't heard how you would compensate the family of someone wrongfully arrested and executed. Two wrongs don't make a right.

I cant answer that wordsmith, im not sure i would be overly intrested either - and yes that sounds really harsh and i dont mean to be. but only 2% of rapists are convicted. It is very hard to convict an innocent man of rape because the whole bloody systems set up to protect them.

Sorry to change my name but I have to be a discreet here. My dp works with child sex offenders, in fact this boy could well end up in the therapy house he manages. This is not uncommon - the reason it has hit the press is because the victim was a teacher and not some anonymous teenager from the local council estate like they usually go for. Dp works with 11, 12 and 13 year olds who have done far worse than this.

They almost always have appalling home lives and have been raped and abused themselves for years, usually starting when they were toddlers. I can't begin to understand the lives these kids lead and frankly I don't want to, but I can't see how castrating and torturing them is going to make any difference. By removing them from their environment and providing a structured programme of therapy and full time education they usually emerge at the other end as almost normal human beings.

We have a similar sort of premises on the end of our road, I think, beingdiscreet, although I don't think the offenders are of this seriousness as it is a supervised house but not an ultra-secure environment.
I really, really admire and respect professionals like your dp who take on these wretched kids and try to help them turn their lives around. There was a lot of chuntering from the Residents' Association when the house opened but so far apart from the odd bit of broken glass outside I have seen and heard NO trouble.
I'd like to see a society where this sort of rehabilitation was widely available.
And better support for the victims of crime too, I have to say.
But hats off to people like your dp for making a real difference. Breaking the pattern of reoffending has to be the way forward IMO.

hhorah for the voices of reason
thoguht I was the only one oppsing this last night

yes you old boot
I e mailed you too

scroll down to seet the fish

Every rapist was once a baby. Look at your own kids, and think what sort of things would have to happen to them to turn them into someone as broken as this teenager.

This sort of tabloid vitriol really sickens me.

NQC, exactly my thoughts put far more eloquently than I ever could.........

yep well done to the voices of reason, a big round of applause to you

As you say dinosaur, you are further down the road to recovery than some of the posters on this thread.
Sometimes venting your spleen in type is the best way to take little steps on that road, surely no-one would begrudge survivors that. Speaking their mind here does not mean they are about to go out with the knives or the salt or any of the other punishments suggested.

you could always just start a "support and comfort for a rapist" thread?

Sorry dinosaur - I also probably came across as santimonious, for which I apologise. You at least do speak from a position of understanding.

suppose id better say sorry for going off on one too.

(thats not to say that i dont stand by what i said though)

HappyHuggy, just caught up with this. I'd hate to think anything I said upset you earlier .
I do believe in the need to try and turn young offenders round, like the boy in this specific case, but not at the expense of ensuring proper justice in the courts for women who have been raped.

i dont think they need 'turning around' i dont think they can be. it would be cheaper and more effective to just shoot them.

and i would feel no guilt over shooting them either. Id enjoy it. Shoot them in the knees first and prolong the agony - thats justice.

Okay, for those of you who are suggesting we brand, castrate, torture rapists - shall we take that type of society to is natural conculsion? Your woman, you are worthless. Oh your DS has been caught stealing some sweeties from the corner shop - cut his bloody hands off. Ah, you sweet DD aged 15 has been a bit careless and got herself pregnant lets give her a good kicking, make sure she loses the baby and ensure that she will have no further (even crap) life. oops, bit carried away and had a wee fling with a workmate - bad move cause you are no going to get a beating and thrown out of the pack. I use the work pack purposefully as you are suggesting we revert to living and behaving in a manner similar to pack animals.