i Editor's Letter: No excuses for mislabelling abuse
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Young teens’ sexuality is uncomfortable and misunderstood by many adults. But abuse is another matter. No excuses can be made for the behaviour of the CPS barrister who described a 13-year-old victim of sexual abuse as “predatory” and “sexually experienced”.
The leniency of the abuser’s sentence, a suspended jail term, is to be reviewed, the Attorney General’s Office has announced. But a more fundamental matter is at stake: such victim-blaming contributes to sex abuse cases going unreported.
Prosecutors are obliged to draw to a court’s attention anything that assists the defendant, but the law is supposed to protect young teenage girls from older men – not blame them for being abused once they come forward to report it. The age of consent is 16. In this case the girl was 13 and the man was 41. His computer contained images of child sex abuse. It’s clear who the predator was. Shame on the CPS. Such barristers shouldn’t need to be specially trained – but they do.
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