A 21-year-old man convicted of raping a 13-year-old girl when he was 17 was sentenced to 270 hours of unpaid community service after a judge deemed prison time for the offense would not be “appropriate.”
Sean Hogg was charged with rape after repeatedly attacking a young girl at Dalkeith Country Park in Midlothian, Scotland, near Edinburgh, between March and June of 2018, according to BBC. Hogg reportedly threatened the 13-year-old victim and forced her to carry out a sexual act before raping her, according to court documents cited by the outlet.
Due to Hogg’s age at the time of the offense and his lack of criminal record, Judge Lord Lake determined that prison would not “contribute to [Hogg’s] rehabilitation,” BBC reported. Citing new guidelines in Scotland for sentencing defendants under the age of 25, Lake explained that if Hogg had committed the rape as a 25-year-old man, he would have been sentenced to four or five years in prison.
“I don’t consider that appropriate and don’t intend to send you to prison,” Lake stated in his ruling, according to BBC. (RELATED: Stanford Sexual Assault Case Judge Removed From Criminal Court)
Sean Hogg, 21, attacked the 13 yr old girl in Dalkeith Country Park, Midlothian, on various occasions between March and June 2018. He was given community sentence BBC News https://t.co/RkU7Y8opvj
— Joolz Denby (@JoolzDenby) April 3, 2023
Activist Ellie Wilson, herself a victim of rape, decried the sentence as “inadequate.”
“I think it is absolutely appalling, an insult. All it is going to do is discourage victims and survivors from wanting to come forward,” Wilson told BBC. (RELATED: Brock Turner Is Getting Out Of Jail…After Serving Half His Sentence)
“I do not see how it is appropriate to hand down a community payback order for rape, there are some crimes – rape being one of them – which require adequate punishment, and that punishment can only be in prison,” she added.
Sandy Brindley, chief executive of Rape Crisis Scotland, stated that while a justice system should focus on rehabilitation, it also needs to provide a sense of justice for the victims. “I just don’t see how this sentence can do that,” she stated, according to the outlet.
In addition to the 270 hours of unpaid community service, Hogg will be placed under supervision and on the sex offenders registry for three years, BBC reported.