YOUNGSTER PLEADS GUILTY TO RAPING 11-YEAR-OLD

A youth who admitting raping  an 11-year-old in the kitchen of a house in Watford thought she was over the age and consented, his barrister said today. A 19-year-old, from Milton Keynes honestly believed the girl was 16 and agreed to what happened, St Albans crown court heard. On the previous day she had jumped on top of the teenager and started kissing him in front of a group of other youngsters. When asked how old she was she said: ‘I am 16 ain’t I?’ His barrister Peter Dahlson said: “He was told she was 16. She appeared to be considerably older than her true age. He believed she had the capacity to consent and did consent. He did not believe what he was doing was out of order,” he said. Opening the case, prosecutor Beverly Cripps said the girl was staying at the Watford address in May this year. The teenager had gone there with two of his friends the previous day. They returned there the next day with a bottle of Jack Daniels and Coca-Cola. She went on: “(The man) fell out with his friends after they teased him about his skin. He went into the kitchen where the girl was washing the dishes.” It was there that he her got her to perform oral sex and carried out another sexual act, she said. The girl, who was described in court as naïve, told another girl and her mother was informed. The police were called and he was arrested. A doctor who examined the girl at Watford General Hospital said she looked much older than 11. The 19-year-old pleaded guilty to rape (oral) and assault by penetration on May 18 this year. In 2011 he had received a referral order for four months for criminal damage. In 2008 and 2009 he had been reprimanded by the police for common assault. Mr Dahlson said he had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity. He said the sentencing guidelines of eight to 13 years for a rape conviction after a trial were not appropriate because of the unusual circumstances of the case. “It was an evening he will never forget. He thought it was normal teenage exploration,” he said. Asking for the judge to pass a Community Order, he said that the youngster is a hard-working man who had “made a devastating mistake.” Judge Stephen Gullick told him: “You believed she was 16. Had you known that was not the case, you would not have done what you did.” He passed an 18 month jail sentence suspended for two years with two years’ supervision. The man was ordered to register as a sex offender for 10 years.