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15 year old boy who had consensual sex with 14 year old girl faces 5 years in prison

  • 16-12-2009 7:38pm
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 1,183 ✭✭✭


    He's challenging the law under which he is charged on the grounds of sexual discrimination. If he loses he faces five years in jail and I assume will be a sex offender.
    I think this is ridiculous, and I really hope he wins.

    http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/1216/statutory.html
    Challenge to underage sex law

    Wednesday, 16 December 2009 17:26
    An 18-year-old charged with having sex with a 14-year-old girl when he was 15 has begun a legal challenge to the legislation under which he is charged.
    He is accused of having sex with the girl in August 2006.

    The man says that the 2006 legislation that allows him to be prosecuted but states that a girl under 17 is not guilty of an offence is old fashioned gender-based discrimination for which the State has no justification.
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    He is charged under Section 3 of the Criminal Law Sexual Offences Act of 2006 and faces a maximum of five years in jail if he is convicted.
    Under Section 5 of the same act, a girl under 17 cannot be charged with an offence for engaging in sexual activity.
    The boy's lawyers told the court the legislation proceeded on the basis that the boy was 'the guilty party' and the girl was a 'comely maiden' whose virtue must be protected.
    Senior Counsel Gerard Hogan said that if he was convicted he would face a conviction for a sexual offence with all the ignominy and distress associated with that.
    He said he faced the prospect of having his life destroyed.
    Mr Hogan said five years in prison and a conviction for a sexual offence for a boy of 15 who engaged in consensual sexual activity was a 'savage penalty'.
    Mr Hogan said the State's justification for the provision in the legislation was that an underage girl would be deterred from engaging in sexual activity by the prospect of becoming pregnant.
    The Oireachtas had to 'equalise' the positions of a boy and a girl by providing an equal deterrent to a boy in the form of making the sexual activity a criminal offence, he said.
    He added that no sane person would encourage a 14 and a 15-year-old to engage in sexual activity but he said this was nakedly gender based legislation.
    He said no one would suggest that pregnancy in a young girl was something that could be countenanced but he said there was no comparison between pregnancy and the prosecution for a sexual offence, which would destroy a young life.
    The legislation was enacted in the aftermath of the Supreme Court ruling that found that the laws governing statutory rape were unconstitutional because they did not allow for a defence of reasonable mistake about a girl's age.
    Mr Hogan said this was not the kind of case that came up after the Supreme Court ruling where for example a 40-year-old man took advantage of a 12-year-old girl.
    He said this was two youngsters engaging in sexual activity and he said this was the reality of the conduct of a significant minority of young people 'like it or not'.
    Professor Sheila Green, Director of the Children's Research Centre at Trinity College Dublin gave evidence that an increasing number of young people were having sex before the age of consent.
    It was almost normative behaviour she said and studies had found that in most cases it was consensual.
    Thousands of young people were having sex under the age of consent she said. Thousands of boys were therefore liable to prosecution.
    She said we may not like the idea of very young teenagers indulging in sexual activity but it is part of the everyday reality she said.
    If every case like this one came to light she said, the courts would be full of cases like this because it is such a frequent activity.
    The case is likely to continue until Friday.

    Sorry if posted already, searched and had a look around and found nothing...


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Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 2,136 ✭✭✭ciano1


    At least he's getting laid . . . :(


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,940 ✭✭✭4leto


    How many here would have broke that law I know I did, in my teen years.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,051 ✭✭✭winston82


    great thread op. some really interseting points you've made. keep up the good work


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 21,448 ✭✭✭✭Cupcake_Crisis


    That is ridiculous! Two people broke the law in that situation, why should only 1 be punished??


  • Registered Users Posts: 7,962 ✭✭✭jumpguy


    Heard this on the news. It's extremely unfair and it's shameful our law could allow this to happen. The age of consent law is archaic. It should be dependent on the circumstance. TBH, the article is ambiguous in the nature the boy had sex to the girl, but it was consensual. It'd be the highest form of cruelty to convict the boy, and give him a horrible criminal record, and hence effectively destroy his life.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 81,119 ✭✭✭✭Overheal


    Well, I know this will never happen, but if youre a minor and if you find yourself to be "Guilty" of the same offence as this Lad:

    Come forth.

    If truly there are Thousands of offending Teens, if they all came forward at once, the Courts would have two choices: Ammend the Law, or Imprison Thousands of Teens.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,183 ✭✭✭dioltas


    winston82 wrote: »
    great thread op. some really interseting points you've made. keep up the good work

    My sarcasm detector is going off the scale. I just wanted to let people know if they didn't already tbh because I think it's a terrible injustice.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,021 ✭✭✭Mike 1972


    4leto wrote: »
    How many here would have broke that law I know I did, in my teen years.

    Paedophile! Rapist! Sex offender!

    (according to Irish law)
    Overheal wrote: »
    Thousands of Teens.

    And brand them as "sex offenders" for life.

    Presumably theyd have to go on that register thing as well


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 491 ✭✭spitfireIRL


    it's a stupid law anyway if they both consented there should be no problem!! PC gone mad


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,378 ✭✭✭Borneo Fnctn


    I hope he doesn't get convicted of this. It just wouldn't be right. How did it end up in the court anyway? Were they caught at it or what? Maybe it was he girl's parents.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 10,255 ✭✭✭✭The_Minister


    it's a stupid law anyway if they both consented there should be no problem!! PC gone mad

    So two twelve year olds who decide to play doctors and nurses should be ok?

    I don't think it is a criminal matter if two people of the same age have sex, but there is such a thing as too young.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,183 ✭✭✭dioltas


    4leto wrote: »
    How many here would have broke that law I know I did, in my teen years.

    Yeah, exactly. The whole situation would be laughable if it weren't for the consequences for this lad. A nation of rapists I tell ya!
    Who's to say the lads aren't the ones being taken advantage of ffs? Maybe they should just prevent any physical contact between boys and girls until the age of 17.


  • Registered Users Posts: 6,547 ✭✭✭Agricola


    Its young feckers like this that have the country the way it is.......... Scandalous!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 491 ✭✭spitfireIRL


    So two twelve year olds who decide to play doctors and nurses should be ok?

    I don't think it is a criminal matter if two people of the same age have sex, but there is such a thing as too young.

    two people who know what they're doing with their bodies wouldn't be playing doctor's and nurses. Yes, twelve is definitely too young, but i'm not too sure 14/15 is.

    Sure there was a poll on here recently, check the figures . It's not exactly a small amount of people who had underage sex


  • Registered Users Posts: 7,962 ✭✭✭jumpguy


    So two twelve year olds who decide to play doctors and nurses should be ok?

    I don't think it is a criminal matter if two people of the same age have sex, but there is such a thing as too young.
    This would be where early sex education would be important...


  • Registered Users Posts: 81,119 ✭✭✭✭Overheal


    Mike 1972 wrote: »
    And brand them as "sex offenders" for life.

    Presumably theyd have to go on that register thing as well
    But thats my point. The legislature has a conscience, and they wouldnt subject thousands of teens to the register. Or if they did it would devalue the register and introduce literally thousands of red herrings into the system.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,158 ✭✭✭donmeister


    Behead both of them I say!

    Oops have my Muslim thinking cap on


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 28,128 ✭✭✭✭Mossy Monk


    It would be crazy if he gets done for this. It takes two to tango and this law is ridiculously sexist.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 13,249 ✭✭✭✭Kinetic^


    Same almost happened to someone I know. She got pregnant, her parents flipped and contacted the solicitor. Only for her being older then him he would've got prosecuted. So in light of this......remember kids, always go for the older lady!


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,931 ✭✭✭Prof.Badass


    I am raging at this :mad:.

    What i find most shocking is that this law isn't some relic from the 70's, it's from 2006 :eek:.

    I really thought this sort of sexism had been dropped by that stage (and that any sexism in the law was from older laws).

    In a fair society there is no room in the law for distinctions based on gender.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,134 ✭✭✭FarmerGreen


    Confession under duress.
    It wont stand up in court.
    Unless they videoed it, deny the offence.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,021 ✭✭✭Mike 1972


    The legislature has a conscience, and they wouldnt subject thousands of teens to the register.

    But is quite happy to have some of them locked up ?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 19,986 ✭✭✭✭mikemac


    He is charged under Section 3 of the Criminal Law Sexual Offences Act of 2006 and faces a maximum of five years in jail if he is convicted.
    Under Section 5 of the same act, a girl under 17 cannot be charged with an offence for engaging in sexual activity.

    Both broke the law but only one is getting charged. :confused:
    That surely should be challenged!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 412 ✭✭Vanhalla


    I wish i was shaggin at 15!


  • Registered Users Posts: 81,119 ✭✭✭✭Overheal


    But is quite happy to have some of them locked up ?
    good point :/


  • Registered Users Posts: 17,186 ✭✭✭✭IvySlayer


    We need everyone to sign a petition and hand it into the Dail and change the damn law.

    Put it down to 14. And then the hard part comes in, where to stop, I dunno, only allowed to sleep with someone who is not over 2 years older than you if you are between 14 - 16?


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,055 ✭✭✭Pacing Mule


    Overheal wrote: »
    Well, I know this will never happen, but if youre a minor and if you find yourself to be "Guilty" of the same offence as this Lad:

    Come forth.

    If truly there are Thousands of offending Teens, if they all came forward at once, the Courts would have two choices: Ammend the Law, or Imprison Thousands of Teens.

    Surely Cum first and then hand yourself in !


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 909 ✭✭✭mobius42


    Actually, how did this get to court? Loads of teenagers have sex under the age of consent but they don't get end up in court. How did this guy get charged?


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,134 ✭✭✭FarmerGreen


    Silly old farts should use a bit of 'judgement'.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,021 ✭✭✭Mike 1972


    mobius42 wrote: »
    Actually, how did this get to court? Loads of teenagers have sex under the age of consent but they don't get end up in court. How did this guy get charged?

    He got caught


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