Babysitter Has Sex With 11-Year-Old Boy, Victim’s Father Is More Proud Than Outraged, Gets Light Sentence

Jade Hatt, a 21-year-old babysitter who had sex with an 11-year-old boy in her care, got a light prison sentence in part because the child’s father was more proud about his son’s sexual encounter than he was outraged, the Guardian is reporting.

Jade Hatt, 21, was spared jail after the boy’s father told the court that his son was “fully up for this… http://t.co/fheI6ZlwPK

— What We Seee (@Whatweseee) October 5, 2015

Ms. Hatt, who had babysat the unidentified boy on several occasions before the sexual assault and who was well-known to the family (she and the boy’s father had had a relationship), was looking after him one day he when was off from school. However, the specific date on which the sexual assault took place has not been made public. On the day of the sexual assault, Ms. Hatt came into the home in Swindon, England, and found the child lying down. She then took her clothes off, climbed atop the boy, and they had sex for about 45 seconds. He then told his babysitter that he didn’t enjoy it and that it was wrong.

The boy’s father, when he arrived home. noticed a mark on his son’s neck that the Guardian describes as a “love bite,” then went through text messages on his son’s phone, finding messages from the babysitter that confirmed that the two had had sex. He called the police, who arrested Ms. Hatt.

The babysitter told police she thought the boy was 15, although the prosecution noted that her defense is unlikely due to the fact that she’d known the boy and his father for some time.

During the babysitter’s trial, however, the victim’s father issued a statement on Hatt’s behalf, in part suggesting that he was proud of his son, according to the Daily Mail.

“I know he told her he was 15. He looks older than his years. He is sex mad. He would have been fully up for this experience and in many ways sees it as a notch on his belt and is totally unaffected by it.”

Hatt’s defense attorney, Rob Ross, described his client as “an immature woman” and described the victim as “very advanced for his age.” The judge in the case, Judge Tim Mousley QC, apparently agreed with the defense’s version of events and gave Hatt a relatively light sentence, at least when it comes to sexual crimes against children.

“Having read everything before me, it was quite clear he was a mature 11-year-old and you were an immature [21]-year-old so that narrows the arithmetic age gap between you.”

Mousley sentenced the babysitter to six months in prison and suspended for two years. She will have to register as a sex offender for seven years, enter a treatment program, and not have any future unsupervised contact with underage boys.

British anti-child abuse charity National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) was outraged by the light sentence. In a statement, the agency said that sex crimes committed by women against boys are just as immoral as sex crimes committed by men against girls.

“The judge’s comments in this case send out completely the wrong message and confirm a common view in society that the abuse of a young boy by a woman is somehow less serious than the abuse of a girl by a man… It beggars belief that Tim Mousley QC could say that the 11-year-old victim’s maturity and the abuser’s immaturity ‘narrowed the age gap’ and was reason to step outside the sentencing guidelines; this sends a deeply worrying signal.”

Judge’s reasons to step outside sentencing guidelines for Jade Hatt – who abused a young boy – are deeply worrying: http://t.co/GhvIMSmlFk

— NSPCC (@NSPCC) October 5, 2015

Do you believe the babysitter who sexually abused an 11-year-old boy got the right sentence? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

[Image courtesy of: Shutterstock/corgarashu]