"Well Developed Girl, Not raped"

[the_bob_delusion]

http://www.news.com.au/world/europe/man-27-acquitted-by-appeal-court-of-rape-of-13-year-old-girl-as-...

A COURT of appeal has acquitted a man of the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl on the grounds she was “well-developed” and looked older.

The 27-year-old man met the girl, who had run away from a foster home last year, as she sat on a park bench near his home in the city of Västerås in Sweden.

The girl had no money, no mobile phone or place to stay when she got talking to the man and when she said she was tired and thirsty he invited her to his apartment “for a drink”, Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet reported.

The man was arrested in April and charged with statutory rape after later admitting he had sex with her at his apartment. It is illegal in Sweden for an adult to have sexual intercourse with anyone under the age of 15.

Correct Ruling or not?

[i-need-a-martini]

Sweden has a very poor record of rape convictions as they do give men the benefit of the doubt in cases that we would undeniably see as rape. There was a recent case of a man acquited because the woman was into S&M so the court decided that his defense (that when she was saying "no" she was simply S&M playing acting) was plausible.

The age thing is an issue. Some girls just look much older than they are so how can you convict a man for rape if a girl looks 18 or over? We would convict them without question in Australia but I'm not sure that this is fair.

I am not sure what the story is in your OP. Can a 12 year old really look 15? Possible. If so, he is right to have been acquitted.

[ambercat16]

I notice that there is no statement as to whether or not the sex was consentual?

I assume it was, otherwise he would have been charged with actual rape rather than (or as well as) statutory rape, but it isn't mentioned in the article.

[i-need-a-martini]

I made that assumption too ambercat given the wording. 

[the_bob_delusion]

An underage girl cannot legally consent. I'm guessing. 

[i-need-a-martini]

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@the_bob_delusion wrote:

An underage girl cannot legally consent. I'm guessing. 

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Of course not.

But I imagine the guy would have been acquitted because the girls age was indeterminable. 

Is it really rape if the there is no way of knowing or anticipating the girl was underage?

[the_bob_delusion]

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@i-need-a-martini wrote:

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@the_bob_delusion wrote:

An underage girl cannot legally consent. I'm guessing. 

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Of course not.

But I imagine the guy would have been acquitted because the girls age was indeterminable. 

Is it really rape if the there is no way of knowing or anticipating the girl was underage?

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I guess it's fair enough if you didn't suspect she was underage. 

[baybizz]

Rather stange. The girl apparently did not complain of being raped - so how did knowledge of this become public?   

>> #2: Sweden ... does give men the benefit of the doubt in cases that we would undeniably see as rape...

I don't think Julian Assange would agree with you on that:

>> He faces rape and sexual assault allegations in Sweden. In June 2012, having lost his appeal to the UK's Supreme Court against extradition to Sweden, he took refuge in the embassy of Ecuador, in London, which granted him asylum.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19426382

--
The saga continues:

>> Lawyers for Julian Assange have claimed victory after a Swedish prosecutor bowed to pressure from the courts and agreed to break the deadlock in the WikiLeaks founder’s case by interviewing him in London - the first sign of movement in a case that has been frozen since August 2012...

>> It is a great injustice that Mr Assange,  has been deprived of freedom without charge in the United Kingdom, and confined in the Ecuador embassy for almost 1,000 days....

www.theguardian.com/assange-swedish-prosecutors-london-interview

[i-need-a-martini]

I suspect the runaway girl went back home and after months of questioning her about her activities her parents discovered where she had stayed and what had occurred.

In regards to Assange, he has not been charged with anything and is only wanted for questioning by Swedish police. Given the issues surrounding the alleged rapes and the political climate surrounding his arrest, I suspect the Swedish courts would be very lenient in his case.

As it is the Swedish police have already come under fire for not bothering to question him in the UK  - Assange has certainly been willing to be questioned there.