A Melbourne woman has been jailed after repeatedly having sex with a 14-year-old boy and giving birth to his child.
The teenager, a close friend of her daughter, was given alcohol by the 36-year-old when he came over and they’d have unprotected sex.
A complaint was made to police in 2015 but when they investigated, the woman denied any offending. Then she gave birth to his son.
A paternity test was taken, confirming the teenage boy was the father and a victim of sexual abuse.
The woman was sentenced four years on Wednesday in the Victorian County Court after pleading guilty to the persistent sexual exploitation of a child under 16.
“Your offending was in part motivated by selfish sexual gratification,” said the sentencing judge.
“The fact you used no contraception and have given birth to a child only aggravates your offending.
“You have destroyed the victim’s childhood and the well-being of his family.”
The now 16-year-old is struggling with the aftermath of abuse and the responsibility of becoming a father.
Unable to stay with the mother, the Department of Health are preparing a care plan for the baby and the victim’s family wish to play a part despite the circumstances.
The court case comes days after France has been forced to confront its laws around sexual assault after two men were acquitted of raping 11-year-old girls in separate cases.
Children’s rights groups were furious the prosecutors 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.
They felt “there was no violence, no constraint, no threat, and no surprise” from the man to justify a rape charge.
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).
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.
