Children cannot consent
December 16th 2007 by Lisa in Child Safety & Protection, Child Abuse
Megan wrote an earlier article about this subject, but I cannot get this atrocity off of my mind:
Q: What kind of judge would say that a 10-year-old girl had “probably agreed” to have sex with a group of nine teenage and adult male rapists?
A: District Court judge Sarah Bradley.
It is illegal to have sex with anyone under age 16 and all nine perpetrators pleaded guilty to rape.
Yet, Judge Bradley told the offenders in her sentencing remarks in October 2006 that the victim in this case “was not forced and she probably agreed to have sex with all of you.”
She gave 12-month probabation to the six juvenile offenders and six-month suspended prison sentences to the three older offenders.
Q: What kind of prosecutor would refer to gang rape as “childish experimentation” and describe the rapists as “naughty?”
A: Australian prosecutor Steve Carter, who did not recommend jail time for the attackers.
Think of the message that is being sent here - that a group of men can have sex with a child without repercussions.
Children deserve to be sheltered and protected. I am in complete disagreement with any judge and any prosecutors who thinks that a child could willingly consent to violation by adult men.
So, who is this little girl, this so-called ‘willing participant’?
Born into this world with fetal alcohol syndrome, she was raped at age seven and contracted a sexually transmitted disease from her attackers. She experienced a time of healing and safety with her foster family in Cairns, before being returned to the remote Aboriginal community where the first rape took place, and where, in 2005, she was raped again.
Why was she returned to Aurukun? Due to a policy that Indigenous children should be placed with extended family whenever possible.
There is a reluctance to separate Aboriginal children from their community and culture, which stems from the historical Stolen Generation. I wrote about this issue in an earlier article:
“According to the Australian Institute of Family Studies, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children comprise 2.7% of children in Australia, yet constitute 20% of those placed in out-of-home care. Being removed from their homes is traumatic enough, but a different language, religion, culture and food only make things more difficult. It can be very confusing for a child to be educated in one culture, and then go into foster care in a totally unfamiliar environment.”
However, the bottom line is that cultural considerations cannot be given priority over child safety. Aboriginal leader Noel Pearson recently issued a public statement that a reluctance to place children in foster care had done great harm to many Aboriginal children.
There has been a 72% increase in child sexual abuse cases involving Aboriginal children, according to “Ampe Akelyernemane Meke Mekarle: Little Children are Sacred,” a report commissioned by the Northern Territory government.
Findings revealed that childhood sexual abuse is reported twice as often in remote Aborginal settings and that one-third of all perpetrators are relatives of the victim.
Let’s put politics aside for a minute and think about the girl.
She is now 12-years-old and back in foster care. Reportedly, she is receiving medical and therapeutic assistance. How many years will it take her to heal?
I believe that the nine men who raped her should face justice, because they are accountable for their actions.
I believe that the judicial system in Australia needs to be reformed.
I also believe that it’s important to remember that she will not remain a child forever. A victim now, my hopes and prayers are that she will grow up to be a powerful survivor.
Sources:
Australia child rape case sentences spark furor. CBC, Dec. 10, 2007.
Blame game starts in Arukun rape case. ABC News, Dec. 11, 2007.
Prosecutor in Aborigine rape case suspended. Feminist Daily News Wire, Dec. 14, 2007.
Prosecutor suspended in Australian rape furor. Dec. 12, 2007.
Report criticizes foster care in NT, Dec. 14, 2007.
System failed 10-year-old rape victim, Bligh admits. ABC News, Dec. 11, 2007.
Take the children: Pearson. The Age, Dec. 13, 2007.
Stumble it!
December 16th, 2007 at 11:19 am
This whole case raises some awful issues. First, that the culture of these aboriginal communities must indeed be very sick in order that men and boys, no matter how affected by alcohol and drug abuse that they might be, do these things. Substance abuse might serve to remove barriers in controlling one’s behaviours, but where do these perpetrators form the underlying view that a 10 year old girl is a sex object? Second, that there has been a namby-pamby approach to dealing with these cases, and this does nothing but perpetuate the situation. No meaningful punishment = failure to condemn the attitudes and behaviours that lead to the sexual abuse and rape of children.
December 16th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
Lisa thank you for following this case up. I remain shocked by the judicial outcome. Our National coverage is talking about how outraged people are by the gang rape of a 10 year old. We are not shocked by child rape anymore. Like world terrorism, domestic terrorism has numbed us to action. Society nowadays appears to hear gang rape and just move onto the next news item without a great deal more thought.
Australians are more outraged at the poor sentencing of the case. I am furious that these sexual predators have been let off with little more than a slap on the wrist. For a judge to succumb to prosecution suggestion that the rape was a childish game, is unforgivable. Whereas the prosecutor has been stood down, the Judge cannot be sanctioned.
This case has set violence against women and children back to the Vienna of Freud, where Freud succumbed to pressure from the inner circle that denied the extent of child sexual abuse and began Freud’s recant of his anecdotal and scientific findings.
I also agree with you Ian, our communities are very unwell - VERY unhealthy. Light sentencing for horrific crimes against children is not the way. Rape is not culture, therefore cultural considerations should not be made. If the Judge is concerned about socio cultural political sensitivities then hand it over to traditional justice - a spear through the leg would have more effect than a spear through the heart of our nation that supposedly values children.
And finally, the decision to return the child to the community - this decision was made a long time ago. One child protection worker lost her job as a result and two others were stood down. My view is that this in itself was a witch hunt. It was not the workers who made the decision but senior zonal management and State policies and procedures. The other item to be examined here is WHY did the Dept of Child Safety NOT APPEAL the sentencing within the appeal time of 28 days?
Queensland - leave politics and career protection out of this. Our children are at risk.
December 17th, 2007 at 6:16 am
Sounds like the child has no value what so ever! That is a very sad statement.
December 18th, 2007 at 12:21 am
What about the child! Indeed. But it so seldom is about the child, where the media is concerned. And isn’t it something that we’ve progressed from a wink, and a hohum over sexual abuse of children to needing a gang rape of a child to even get attention in the news? The judge is not a new phenomenon (well maybe in Australia) because a few years ago here in the US a judge said much the same thing, with much the same result, over a 9 year old, mentally challenged, girl. That judge even went so far as to say for the print media that her provocation in dress and behavior caused the rape. Poor man never had a chance! And of course many men claim the same excuse on a regular basis, regardless of the age of the child…or woman. The only person I know of who has studdied the why’s of the judge’s type behavior is Alice Miller. Unfortunately the psychologists still don’t give her theory the credence I think it warrants. I’ve read all her works so saw her growth from analytical psychologist to a more humanistic perspective over the years. She may not have “THE ANSWER” but at least she has an answer that makes some sense of the senseless.
A Child is Waiting,
Take care…be aware
January 14th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Several years ago, I reported my brother-in-law to Social Services as possibly sexually abusing my neices. Nothing was done. Several years later, he went before a judge for being sexually inappropriate with the friend of one of his daughters. His two daughters were not removed from the home then either. Because their grandmother was living in the home, the judge said the father would not sexually abuse his daughters while there was a woman in the house. I, myself, experienced 6 years of incest with my own mother in the house. The judicial system needs to be educated about child abuse too.
January 16th, 2008 at 4:38 am
I, too, agree that child safety MUST come before “cultural integrity.” I also agree that it is ignorant and foolish to believe that, “he would never sexually abuse with a woman in the house,” or “he would never sexually abuse his own children.” Let’s wake up and be realistic! Thanks for letting us use this for the BLOG CARNIVAL AGAINST CHILD ABUSE. Excellent!