Student admits raping girl of 12 ...and walks free
Judge agrees that the victim looked 16
‘Blow to campaigners’
A STUDENT who admitted raping a 12-year-old girl has walked free from court after a judge said it was reasonable to assume the victim looked over 16.
Lady Scott has been criticised for saying the girl had been an ‘active participant’ in sleeping with Daniel Cieslak.
The judge said there had been ‘exceptional circumstances’ as Cieslak had believed the girl to be 16. She added that justice would be ‘best served’ by giving him an ‘absolute discharge’, meaning he was found guilty but no punishment was deemed necessary.
Victims under 13 are deemed by law to be incapable of sexual consent. Critics said the ruling could undermine efforts to encourage tougher sentences for sexual assaults. Cieslak met the victim and her friend, aged 12 and 13, in a taxi queue in Edinburgh after a night out in the summer of 2015 and went back to a party with them thinking they were 16 and 17. He was 19 at the time.
Lady Scott said: ‘The taxi driver had the impression that the victim was about 20 years old. Once at the flat, after some time, you paired off and you and the victim engaged in sexual intercourse. She left the next morning. She had no concerns and there was no suggestion of her being distressed.’ Police officers had also spoken to the victim earlier on the night in relation to another matter and had no concerns over her age, Lady Scott added.
But days later, the youngster told her sister she was ‘extremely wor- ried’ she could be pregnant. The 12-year-old’s GP encouraged her to go to the police and the girl’s sister then reported the incident.
Cieslak, now 21, told police he thought she had been 16, but admitted statutory rape when he found out her actual age.
Cieslak had been due to start an architectural technology course at Napier University in Edinburgh at the time and had been studying engineering. The judge said Cieslak was culpable under ‘strict liability’, but the judge said there were ‘a number of exceptional circumstances’ which applied.
She said: ‘Here the victim willingly participated in the sexual intercourse and there was, in fact, consent. So too, whilst there is no defence to this offence because of strict liability, the fact is you would have had a defence if the victim had been a few months older.
‘The statutory offence for girls aged over 13 to 16 years provides for a defence based on reasonable grounds of belief by the accused that the victim was above the age of consent. Considering all of these factors I have reached the conclusion that justice is best served by taking the wholly exceptional decision not to sentence you, instead I discharge you absolutely.’
Last night Scottish Tory justice spokesman Douglas Ross said the sentence ‘could be seen as a blow to those who campaign for tougher sentencing and better conviction rates surrounding sexual assault and rape, particularly where children are involved’.
A Rape Crisis Scotland spokesman said it could not comment on individual cases, but added the ‘law is clear – children under the age of consent cannot consent to sex’.