Current Events > Man, 21, who admitted raping a 12-year-old girl walks FREE after a judge...

(+) Yeah! (+)

agrees she looks 16.

A man has walked free from court after pleading guilty to the rape of a 12-year-old girl.

Lady Scott took the 'wholly exceptional' decision to grant Daniel Cieslak an absolute discharge at the High Court in Glasgow today.

Cieslak, 21, met the victim and her friend, aged 12 and 13, in a taxi queue in Edinburgh after a night out in the summer of 2015 and went back to a party with them thinking they were 16 and 17, a statement on the Judiciary of Scotland website said.

He was 19 at the time.

Lady Scott said: 'You understood from chat in the taxi that the victim was 16 years old and her friend was 17 years old. The taxi driver had the impression that the victim was about 20 years old.

'Once at the flat, after some time, you paired off and you and the victim engaged in sexual intercourse.

'She left the next morning. She had no concerns and there was no suggestion of her being distressed.'

Police officers who had spoken to the victim earlier in the night in relation to another matter also had no concerns over her age, Lady Scott said in her order.

The judge said Cieslak was culpable under 'strict liability', where victims under 13 are deemed by law to be incapable of consent.

But the judge said there were 'a number of exceptional circumstances' which applied.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4324482/Man-21-admitted-raping-12-year-old-girl-walks-FREE.html
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statutory rape cases are weird things, and i really think the most important aspect always has to be the victim's reaction to the situation
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12 year girls look really undeveloped, I wonder why he didn't question that
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My god, navigating daily mail mobile is like going down the Wonka boat tunnel.
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lol
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OmegaPillow posted...

12 year girls look really undeveloped, I wonder why he didn't question that

like 99% of the time they do, but idk if the guy, the taxi driver and the judge all thought she looked way older than 12 then maybe she was developed or something. lol
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Man that 19 year old who slept with a 14 year old girl who said she was 17 wishes he had this judge.
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inTaCtfuL posted...

OmegaPillow posted...

12 year girls look really undeveloped, I wonder why he didn't question that

like 99% of the time they do, but idk if the guy, the taxi driver and the judge all thought she looked way older than 12 then maybe she was developed or something. lol

I work with youth... and there have been a few 10-12 year olds who both act and look like they are much older than that. Everyone develops differently.
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'The statutory offence for girls aged over 13 to 16 years provides for a defence based on reasonable grounds of belief by the accused that the victim was above the age of consent.

'It is clear from the agreed facts presented to me that the Crown would have been unlikely to, or unable to, exclude such a defence and they do not dispute this. Accordingly, it is very unlikely the Crown could prove a crime had the victim been over 13 years of age.'

Why didn't you add that part in?