15 July 2023 , 18:12
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A 12-year-old girl who was raped by a teenage boy later fell pregnant with his child, a court heard.
The assault took place in the stairwell of a block of flats, and in an initial Youth Court hearing the girl said she had initially consented but withdrew her consent during the sex and told the boy to “stop”.
After the assault the girl fell pregnant and gave birth in a bathroom, before being taken to hospital where the police were told what happened.
The balaclava-wearing defendant, a 15-year-old Romford resident, was later arrested and it was confirmed that he was the father of her child.
He spent seven months remanded in custody, before walking free after the victim’s father had found “incriminating messages” on her phone, which meant the boy’s guilty plea could no longer be accepted.
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Prosecutor Usha Shergill said: “[The father] felt torn but he felt it was right to disclose the messages, and both parties had behaved in an extremely silly way.
“The message was shown to [the victim] who did not remember sending the message but confirmed she had not given her phone to anyone else.”
The two had met on an online dating app called Clubhouse.
The victim's mum told the Inner London Crown Court that following the birth of her granddaughter, her daughter was injured and required surgery.
She explained the damaging financial impact taking six months out of work to look after her granddaughter had, and described the threat of “shame” such a story could cause in her culture.
Judge Kelleher said: "I must sentence you to a serious offence that you committed in February last year. You had sex with a girl who you had only just met and who was actually only 12-years-old. You were 15 at the time.
"Safe for as this court approaches the case you did not know she was under 13.
"The prosecution accepts that is the case, also she did not appear unwilling or refusing to consent to the sex that happened, but she was only 12-years-old and a child under 13 can't agree to have sex.
"It's against the law in all circumstances to have sex with a child that age.
"The result was very serious, in fact she became pregnant, and the very simple reason for that is you did not wear a condom.
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"You told the Youth Offending Team that you did not like wearing condoms. That was in itself selfish and irresponsible, leaving aside the more serious fact you were having sex with such a young girl."