The shocking court decision that a 28-year-old man engaged in consensual sex with an 11-year-old girl he lured home from a park has sparked outrage across the globe.
Children’s rights groups are furious that the prosecutors have essentially deemed the young girl, whose family says she was “paralysed” by fear, didn’t fight hard enough to warrant charging the man with rape.
The young girl allegedly met the man at a park just north of Paris and agreed to follow him home, but once at his apartment the man had sexual relations with her, according to The Local.
Shockingly, prosecutors dropped the charge to sexual abuse of a minor (atteinte sexuelle).
They felt “there was no violence, no constraint, no threat, and no surprise” from the man to justify a rape charge.
“Essentially they judged that she had consented to the sexual encounter because she was not physically forced into the act,” The Local said.
The victim’s mother insists her daughter was raped.
“She thought it was too late, that she didn’t have the right to protest, that it wouldn’t make any difference, so she went into autopilot, without emotion and without reaction,” she said.
French law deems that for those over 15, the legal age of consent, if there is no threat or violence during a sexual act then it must be consensual.
However, there is no law concerning rape for minors – only “sexual offences” (atteinte sexuelle).
The penal code says: “Committing a sexual offence against a minor under the age of 15 without violence, constraint, threat or surprise is punished by five years’ imprisonment and a fine of €75,000,” according to The Local.
Children’s rights group Le Voix de l’Enfant argued the questions of consent should not pertain to minors.
“The question of consent or its absence should never even be asked when it comes to rape victims who are minors,” they said in a statement.
An expert agreed, telling Le Figaro that “submitting was not consenting” and many rape victims “switch off” during the attack, especially minors.
The case has been suspended to February 13th next year.
