Man walks free from court after statutory rape

[AssassinatedBeauty]

Saw this news case today, and am not sure what I think:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-39305042

I feel that it gives the message that it's ok for men not to worry about the age of girls/women they have sex with if they have reasonable grounds to believe they're 16+.

If that's to me, then I think it's obvious that kissing a 16 year old and raping a 12 year old are fundamentally NOT the same thing at all.

How on earth do you know he was 16? Did you demand to see his ID? Did you check if his ID was genuine? Or are you just going on what he said and how he looked? He might have been 12 or 13 for all you know, in which case that snog would technically be "sexual activity with a child". If he'd told his family and they'd involved the police, I bet your reply would have been "but he looked older and he told me he was 16".

19 year old rapist thought 12 year old boy looked older.

Orchid can you really not see the difference between a kiss and a rape?

I do find it extremely interesting that some people are very open to the idea that women should guard their behaviour on nights out by not getting drunk, not going anywhere alone, and so on and all of these measures are "common sense", and can help protect girls and women.

Yet here, where the "common sense" measure is that young men don't pick up girls in taxis queues and have sex with them because they "understood from chat" that she was 16 (yes, I have also read the court document - he did not ask her directly which is not great for making the case that he had done everything he might reasonably have done to ensure her capacity to consent) - where is the "common sense" advice now? Why can't we ask men to adapt their behaviour?

12 year old boys are allowed to think they are gay. My 12 year old daughter thought she was gay then and has since declared being gay.

I didn't know he was telling the truth when he said he was 16 - that's exactly my point?

Can you even imagine the outcry if it was a 19 year old adult woman who had sex with a 12 year old boy? The headlines would be what sort of a monster is she and she should have known better.

There was a case not long ago where a 20 (I think) year old female babysitter had sex with the 11 year old boy she was babysitting. She got a short suspended sentence because the boy looked older than his age and told her he was 15 and the court accepted that she honestly believed that.

That was a travesty too

Completely agree with your 'common sense' post above Pooch.

She wasn't a teenager though was she?

And yes, it was a travesty of justice. Anyone can see that. So, why can't they see it in this case?

No, PoochSmooch, you didn't know how old he was, you just assumed he was of age and kissed him. You didn't make any effort to check his age before kissing him. From your original description you didn't even take a good look at his face beforehand, since you realised how young he was as soon as you saw his face in a bit of light. Were you not, therefore, completely careless as to whether you committed a crime or not? You could have been snogging a 12 year old for all you knew but you went ahead and did it anyway. You made exactly the same decision as the man in this case.

Here

She did know he was 11. The judge said because she was immature, the 9 year age gap was effectively smaller. His dad said he was "up for it". He had also had sex with the babysitter.

Bloody hell.

I find it astonishing that an adult in a position of responsibility who knowingly had sex with an 11 yr old only got a short suspended sent

..ence.

Elendon no, actually, most of the comments about that case were that it was a highly unusual case that was dealt with about right and that it would have been wrong to send the young woman to jail. Just like this case. My point is that the attitude to a case involving a 20 year old woman and an 11 year old boy was the same as the attitude to this case involving a 19 year old man and a 12 year old girl.

Let"s not turn this thread into yet another fucking "women do it too" thread

Suffice to say, anyone of any sex having under age sexual activity with anyone of any sex should be a punishable offence

Oh sorry, I clearly misunderstood the babysitter case - when I read about it at the time I got the impression she thought he was 15 but it seems she did know his real age. Apologies. In that case, I agree the sentence was odd but perhaps her own mental state / immaturity were taken into account.

How about adult men don't have sex with drunk children they've just met who claim to be barely legal? It isn't obligatory.

So the father had also had sex with the woman and described his son's sexual experience as a 'notch'. She is described as being younger than her age.

Totally different. Sorry but it is.

She was 20 and had sex with an 11yo. And she knew he was 11. I don't want to derail, but seriously...

I think you're equating me with a child rapist, orchids. Bit of a reach, really.

I'm in my way out but am horrified to see I'm being accused of the same crime as this man. I absolutely did NOT come anywhere near close to having sex with a 16 year old. I was dancing and suddenly found myself kissing. How unpleasant.

Jade Hatt has learning difficulties. It isn't a comparable case.

She also wasn't given a conditional discharge.

An unconditional discharge