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)

Poor bloody girl. Shocking

I think (and this applies universally across all countries in the world from ) that if a "culture" encourages the sexual exploitation of children then that is a shit culture. In this case though it doesn't seem to be something that Roma themselves are claiming about their culture (the Pitcairn Islands defence) but something the judge decided.

the detail is a bit sketchy. for the avoidance of doubt, he was found to have committed no offence at all (rather than getting 11 years)? he's now 20 years old and the not-offences happened when the girl was aged between 12 and 15 , so I suppose it's borderline possible that he was a minor himself when it all started? deeply unpleasant any way.

The law should be applied without fear or favour. It’s an outrageous judgement - I hope this gets some media heat across Europe.

'a sexual relationship with a Roma girl saw her become pregnant three times between the ages of 12 and 15.'

God, almighty. The poor child.

The age of consent in Spain has been 16 for less than ten years, it was 13, but before 1999 it was 12.

Because they go out and peruse adult men off their own backs, or because predator men groom them into it?

If you read the whole article some of it is clearer.

It says that the man was 20 "at the time". Presumably this means at the time of the offence, otherwise it would say that he is now 20.

The article is actually about 2 separate cases. One is about the 20-year-old man and the 12-year-old girl. He was acquitted, but prosecutors wanted him to be sentenced to 11 years in prison.

The other case is about a man (age unknown) who repeatedly raped an underage girl and made her pregnant 3 times between the ages of 12 and 15. He was given an 11 year sentence, but prosecutors had asked for 37 years.

It also says:
The acquittal is the latest in a series of rulings in which judges have taken into account customs followed by some of Spain’s Roma population when dealing with cases of sexual assault concerning minors.

So it seems that lenient sentences or acquittals are the norm for this sort of crime in Spain if the victim is a Roma girl.

Being taken out of education makes them incredibly vulnerable to predatory men.

JFC. The poor, poor child. Three pregnancies between 12 and 15?

Horrifying to have criminal acts especially those involving children and sexual abuse/ rape dismissed as “it’s OK because it’s what ‘they’ do in ‘their’ culture”.

Good grief. Did you really say that?

This happened a lot in the UK in the 1970s and later when the law and social services turned a blind eye to forced marriage in the Asian community because community leaders old men said it was fine.

It really isn't acceptable for old men to rule that very young girls can be made sexually available. That judge needs to rethink this ruling.

Exactly igmum the only culture we are talking about here is the culture of misogyny.

I am not in any way educated about Roma culture but had via news stories (and probably tv / films etc.) always assumed that the notion of preserving a girl / young women's virtue was highly regarded.

Somehow I had understood from the news article that the man concerned was also from the Roma community. If however it is a male from outside of that community it is a clear case of attitudes toward Roma women and girls, and possibly something that the wider community perpetuates.

Just to add the newspaper clearly says the man was 20 "at the time". But lets face it if he was in Scotland who would just have got a slap on the wrist because Scotland excuses men of 26 and younger of sexual assault because the law recognises the male brain hasn't yet matured (although happy to let them vote at 16 and self identitfy).

The worry for me as I said before is that the court is effectively signalling to men dont worry you can exploit Roma girls.

Its like those terrible stories about women from Native American women and girls who disappear, or after sexual assault aren't prosecuted because if the assault took place on tribal nation land it is not covered by the say law / law agencies.

Obviously realise that men will sexually exploit young women and girls, but disheartening to see the law enable them.

So in Spain gypsy children are fair game. Maybe when the relatives of this girl beat the rapist to a pulp they will get off scot free because ‘common practice’?

In Scotland rapists up to early 20s get a tap on the back of the hand because they are ‘immature’.

What the hell is happening?

I don’t think people realise how inappropriate judges are capable of behaving on the bench. When you see how the judiciary can uphold the patriarchy you cannot unsee it. We had a 40 year marriage long of abuse from my FIL towards my MIL. The judge who presided over a case for a protection order had to be seen to be believed. But in the end I suspect he was much more like my FIL as a person than someone who suffers at the hands of people like my FIL. We are always at the mercy of people who themselves have significant failings.

For crying out loud, this is atrocious. If it would be rape and sexual abuse of a child if a man did it to a white girl from Tunbridge Wells, then it would be rape and sexual abuse of a child if he did it to any other girl her age. No matter her nationality, ethnicity or skin colour.

What we have is another iteration of the pervasive trope that children, specifically female children, from misogynistic cultures associated with child marriage are built differently from any other child on earth. The apologists would have us think that Roma girls cannot experience sexual abuse as abusive. Apparently Roma children are an exception to everything we have learnt about children's psychological development and sexual trauma. Certainly nothing we have learnt over the centuries about the physical strain of pregnancy on an immature girl's body applies to these girls! /sarcasm

It's just othering of Roma girls, masquerading as multicultural tolerance.