Rape Of 11-Year-Old Girl Ruled ‘Consensual Sex’ By French Court As Global Outrage Erupts

A 28-year-old man who lured a girl, 11, into a stairwell and had sexual intercourse with this minor child was charged with rape, but the rape charge was dismissed in court. The man didn’t deny having sex with this minor child, but he told the court that he thought she was older than 11. There was no evidence of violence during their sexual encounter, which took the rape charge off the table of the law. Instead, the court found that this encounter was one of “consensual sexual relations.”

This shocking and very disturbing case has made global headlines and has “ignited outrage from children’s rights groups” around the world. Groups that advocate for the rights of children are demanding that this law used to rule the case “consensual sexual relations” is changed by the French lawmakers.

The girl had met this man twice at a park near Paris and during their third meeting, he is accused of luring this girl back to his apartment. The girl said the man promised to teach her how to kiss, luring her to his apartment in Montmagny to do so, according to Fox News.

When they arrived, they had sexual intercourse in the stairwell of the apartment complex. The man, who is a father of two, said he thought the girl was older than she was. The police were called by the girl’s parents, who reported to the police that their daughter had been raped after she had told them what had happened.

While the parents and a good majority of the free world saw this as a rape of a child, the French court did not. Despite the attorney for the girl expressing to the court that “the man was assertive with her and threatened her with repute,” the court didn’t find any evidence of violence or threats occurring within this act.

In order for a sexual act to be considered rape in France, threating and violence must take place. For lack of evidence, the prosecutors in the Val d’ Oise department “ruled that the girl consented to sex with the older man,” reports Fox News.

The Straits Times reports, “To go on trial for raping someone under the age of 15 – the age of consent in France – there would need to be proof that the man attacked the girl, threatened or constrained her, or thrust himself upon her without her expecting it.”

Prosecutors could not come up with evidence that any of behaviors above had occurred. There was no proof that the sex was not consensual between the 28-year-old man and the 11-year-old girl, which led them to a ruling sparking fury today. According to the Straits Times, the children’s rights group La Voix de l’ Enfant released a statement after the ruling was read that said, “The question of consent or its absence should never be asked for rape victims who are minors.”

Instead of rape, this man will now face charges of sexual assault of a minor when he appears back in court in February. The outrage over this ruling is seen across the social media sites, such as Twitter, where people are furious over the thought that anyone could have “consensual sex” with an 11-year-old child.

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