Saturday, December 15, 2007

In England, teenager sex attackers roam freely

Teenage sex attacker walks free

A teenage sex attacker was spared jail despite confessing to raping a 12-year-old girl while he had a knife.

The boy, who cannot be named, was given a two-year supervision order for raping the girl in Winton, Salford. He was 14 at the time of the attack.

He will also be electronically tagged and be subject to a curfew between 2000 BST and 0700 BST for three months.

The girl's mother described the sentence passed by Judge Jeffrey Lewis as "absolutely disgraceful".


Yesterday when I had to go home and tell her [the sentence] it was the hardest thing I have ever had to say

Victim's mother


The boy, now 15, will also have to sign the sex offenders' register for two years, following Thursday's hearing.

Greater Manchester Police said the boy had threatened the girl with a knife before raping her.

But Judge Lewis, sitting at Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court, decided that, although the teenager had intimidated the girl with the knife, he had not used it during the rape.

The court heard the victim had been out playing with friends when the attack happened in an alleyway near a shop on 18 January.

The boy was arrested the following day and later charged with rape. He pleaded guilty on 22 June.


'Minutes away'

Speaking to the BBC on Friday, the victim's mother said she had considered moving her family after the incident.

"It's hard for me to let her out on the streets knowing it happened two minutes away from my doorstep with someone she knew," said the woman, who cannot be identified.

"I think its absolutely disgraceful.

"He is tagged for three months, allowed out until seven or eight o'clock at night - he raped her at tea time."

"Yesterday when I had to go home and tell her [the sentence] it was the hardest thing I have ever had to say."

"Teenage sex attacker walks free", 08/04/2006. Retrieved on 12/15/2007.