Youngest Rape Accused Aged 11: ODPP

He was one of the 14 people charged with 26 counts of separate alleged incidents including 25 rape cases and one sexual assault.

An 11-year- old is the youngest offender for alleged serious sexual offences as of last month.

According to statistics released by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), the victim was charged with the rape of a three-year-old girl. He is one of the 14 people charged with 26 counts of separate alleged incidents, including 25 rape cases and one sexual assault.

Of the 26 separate alleged incidents, 10 victims were under the age of 18 years. There was one male victim and13 female victims while all accused persons were male. There were seven alleged incidents where the victims and the accused were related. In one alleged incident a 19-year-old uncle was charged with raping his five-yearold nephew and two seven-year-old nieces. In another alleged incident a 38-year-old and 55-year-old men were charged with the rape and sexual assault of their 10-year-old niece. There was one alleged inci-

dent were a 55-year-old man was charged with raping his 21-year-old step-daughter.

There were two alleged separate incidents where a 38-yearold grandfather and a 59-year-old granduncle were each charged with the rape of their six-year-old granddaughter and 12-year-old grandniece respectively.

There was one alleged incident of marital rape where a 27-year-old man was charged with the rape of his 25-year-old wife, and in another alleged incident a 35-year-old man was charged with the rape of his 40-year-old de facto partner.

In an alleged separate incident a 38-year-old man was charged with the rape of a 13-year-old girl. He was also charged with abduction and wrongful confinement.

(NB: The offences of abduction and wrONGFuL CONfiNEMENt ArE rECOrDED separately). There was one alleged incident where two men, aged 22 and 23 years old, were charged with the rape of a 19-year-old girl. In another alleged incident a 49-yearold was charged with the rape of a 10-year-old girl. Four cases were withdrawn after discontinuances (Nolle Prosequi) were filed.

One case was withdrawn due to the death of the accused and another case was withdrawn due to being unable to locate the victim while two other cases were withdrawn after complainants admitted to making false statements.

Refer to the table entitled ODPP Rape and Sexual Offences July 2018 for a break-down of these statistics.