Student walks free after admitting raping girl, 12
A POLISH student who admitted raping a 12-year-old girl has walked free from court after a judge accepted he had made an honest mistake in believing she was 16.
Daniel Cieslak was 19 when he slept with the child in a flat after meeting her in a taxi queue.
He was reportedly led to believe the girl was 16 and allegedly broke down in tears when he was later told her true age by police.
Cieslak admitted the rape of a minor but, in an extraordinary decision yesterday at the High Court in Glasgow, he was told he would escape punishment.
Judge Lady Scott admitted her ruling was “wholly exceptional” but said “justice is best served” by handing out an absolute discharge. There were “exceptional circumstances” in this case, she said.
She added the child was an “active participant” in the sexual activity and there was no suggestion of “predatory conduct”. The court heard how the girl and her friend, 13, had been drinking vodka in Edinburgh city centre in July 2015, before they met Cieslak at a taxi rank at about 4am.
The girls agreed to travel with him to a party at one of his friend’s flats, where Cieslak and his victim later engaged in sexual activity.
Cieslak, from Leith, Edinburgh, was also told that he would not be put on the Sex Offenders Register.