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Posted On: December 9th 2007
Posted By: Adam Coozer
Source: News.com.au |
This is supremely fucked up. You hear about this in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, but Australia?
Girl, 10, 'probably agreed' to sex
NINE men who pleaded guilty last month to gang-raping a 10-year-old girl at the Aurukun Aboriginal community on Cape York have escaped a prison term, with the sentencing judge saying the child victim "probably agreed" to have sex with them.
Cairns-based District Court judge Sarah Bradley ordered that the six teenage juveniles not even have a conviction recorded for the 2005 offence, and that they be placed on a 12-month probation order.
Judge Bradley sentenced three men over the age of consent of 16 - aged 17, 18 and 26 - to six months' imprisonment, with the sentence suspended for 12 months.
Because the 28-day appeal period has expired, the sentences cannot be altered.
Judge Bradley said from her Cairns home yesterday that she considered the sentences "appropriate" in the case because they were the penalties asked for by the Crown prosecutor.
"I am not in a position to comment and I refer you to my sentencing remarks," Judge Bradley told The Australian.
Family supporters of the child victim warned that violence and murders could follow the judge's decision not to jail any of the offenders, and they questioned what message the ruling sent to the community.
When sentencing seven co-accused on October 24 at Aurukun, Judge Bradley noted: "The girl involved was not forced and she probably agreed to have sex with all of you."
The four juveniles are aged 14 to 16 years. They and the adults come from some of the most prominent and powerful Aboriginal families on Cape York.
Two more juveniles pleaded guilty on November 6 to raping the child, and were also given probation with no convictions recorded.
Read the full article here. |
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