Man who raped 12 year old gipsy girl acquitted because relationship ‘common’ (Spain)

[IwantToRetire]

A man who raped a 12-year-old girl was acquitted by a court that deemed their relations formed “part of the cultural reality of the gipsy community”.

Under Spanish law, minors under the age of 16 cannot consent to sex. But the court ruled that the man, who was 20 years old at the time, should benefit from a legal exception

According to the ruling, the defendant said he did not know the exact age of the minor and discovered that she was 12 only when they went to the doctor about her pregnancy.

The man, who has not been named, was sentenced to 11 years in prison after a sexual relationship with a Roma girl saw her become pregnant three times between the ages of 12 and 15.

The court in León was told by the victim that in her culture it was normal for a 12-year-old girl to have sexual relations with an adult. Prosecutors, who had initially pursued a 37-year sentence on three counts of rape, eventually agreed on a plea bargain deal with the reduced sentence, with the conviction ruling stating that “couples start at very early ages in gipsy culture”.

Beatriz Carrillo, director general of non-discrimination and anti-racism within Spain’s Equalities Ministry, described the ruling in León as an “absolute disgrace”.

“The penal code does not exclude Roma minors from protection. If it did so, we would be saying that abusing, attacking or raping gipsy girls has few legal consequences.”

Sara Giménez, FSG director general, said: “Spain’s legal framework says under-16s cannot give consent and this law should be applied for the protection of women, including gipsy women.

From a much longer article in the Telegraph but reprinted by yahoo at Man who raped gipsy girl, 12, acquitted because relationship ‘common’ (yahoo.com)

That poor girl.

Good grief.

Ffs the whole point of the law on age of consent is to apply universally.

Wow. That poor child.

Shocking.

“couples start at very early ages in gipsy culture”
hmmm. Except he was 20 so do they mean girls start to be exploited at very early ages?

Girls do tend to start a lot younger in gypsy culture. Not saying it’s right, but it’s known.

But who is helping them “start”?

They’re not on their own, are they?

How often are adults involved?

Girls do tend to start a lot younger in gypsy culture

I dont think "girls start". I think (and not just about the Gipsy community) that some cultures still cling to old partriarchal "norms" about girls should be "available" to men from an age they are assumed to have started mestruating.

Not sure if it is still in place, but some of the southern states in the US allow under age girls to be married.

It's not often I'm lost for words.

Girls are groomed. They don't 'start' anything.

No they don't, they're groomed from a young age and repeatedly raped with no way out available to them FFS.

Three pregnancies between the ages of 12 and 15. Geez. What child could consent to that?

How can he not have known? I mean by the time you get to 15/16/17 some girls look older than they are but 12? That's barely out of primary school. Pregnant 3 times.

Ignorance not an excuse to not comply with age of consent.

I sometimes think people do make exceptions for things because of cultural differences - oh foot binding, female circumcision. etc it's what they (choose other culture to insert here) do. This seems especially to apply to rights of girls/women.

I am really interested in Roma culture/s and will gladly defend them in any discussion if someone is being prejudiced, but try reframing it:

White man of 20 has sex with girl of 12
Black man of 20 has sex with girl of 12
Chinese man of 20 has sex with girl of 12

Whatever race or culture, its not a good look is it?

She's still a child.

No you’re right. They are groomed. I used the wrong language

for 'has sex with' read that as raped - a 12 year old cannot consent.

In certain Spanish villages goats and donkeys and whatnot used to get chucked off church towers because culture. It's illegal now.

for 'has sex with' read that as raped - a 12 year old cannot consent.

If the law clearly says that in whichever country a case is being heard. But if it doesn't and / or the family of the girl is complicit, then it is much harder for a young woman let alone a girl to object, or go to the authorities.

Look at these exceptions in the USA.

The exception under 10 USC Section 920b, and similar exceptions under state laws, suggests that the government condones the practice of child marriage as it allows an adult to engage in sexual activity with children, giving sexual predators an incentive to force a child to marry them. The law can effectively turn child marriage into a “get out of jail free” card for predators. These laws must be repealed to align U.S. laws with international standards and discouraging child marriage and rape in the U.S.

https://equalitynow.org/learn_more_child_marriage_us/

What is so staggering about this story is that it is about an actual court case, where the Judge clearly understood this was statutory rape.

But chose to say that the law didn't apply.

There is no indication that the law even says there are exceptions, but a lone judge thought they could.

This.

The men get them to 'start'. The men want it. The girls are children. It's abuse and using 'culture ' as a way to cover it to make it appear OK. It's not, the girl is a child.

So he found out he'd ot a child pregnant. "I didn't realise" might be an excuse that time.
But continued in the relationship anyway? So he knowingly continued to get a child pregnant?
Shes been let down by society, her parents, whichever medical staff who saw her in her first pregnancy.. and now a judge.

There's no way he didn't realise she was still a child.

Fucking degenerate.

Link to a 2018 discussion and the importance of accurate birth certificates and records as a basic human right, not least because of the association to child marriage, and early sexual initiation for girls with all the consequences of early pregnancy, never mind the impact on education etc.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/3403900-Tasmania-is-set-to-become-the-first-state-to-remove-the-sex-of-a-child-from-birth-certificates

Child safeguarding is eroded so readily and for such a convenient range of reasons that seem to privilege the preferences of one sex, whatever the background culture.

From what I know of gypsy culture (Roma, as in Spain) whilst the age of marriage might often be quite young (but legal) sex before marriage is absolutely taboo.

So no it is not normal for girls to ‘start’ young, early or before marriage.

And in any case, she was 12. Nowhere near the age of consent and a judge decided she didn’t count.

I hope it goes to the European Court of Human Rights.

Disgraceful.

Misogynist and racist of that judge. And surely outside his remit?

@BoudiccaOfSuburbia Yes, quite strict rules about no sex before marrriage.
Girls often come out of school before school leaving age as parents don't believe in sex ed and want their girls to learn traditionally female roles.

Interestingly, when there were child marriages for example, historically in India, it was usually a given that there would be no sex before a certain age (mid teens at earliest). Just read that age of consent is 18 for a woman and 21 for a man in India (as of 2006 onward).

I'm sure either way rules were flouted by the unscrupulous and girls didn't have the knowledge or power to resist. There is a theory that the Roma (now various branches according to country and lineage) did originate in India as some customs appear similar - and even core words like for 5 and for water are closely linked to Hindi words.