Teen, 15, sent into care for male rape of nine-year-old cousin (From Bournemouth Echo)

Teen, 15, sent into care for male rape of nine-year-old cousin

8:00am Saturday 18th August 2012 in News By Julie Magee

A 15-YEAR-OLD boy has pleaded guilty to repeatedly raping his young cousin from the age of nine.

The teenager, believed to be one of Dorset’s youngest sex offenders, admitted two specimen counts of raping a child under the age of 13.

Prosecutor Robert Welling said the victim, who has special needs and learning difficulties, had been sworn to secrecy after being repeatedly abused at their grandmother’s home.

Mr Welling told Bournemouth Crown Court “it happened a lot” with the victim pleading with his abuser “stop, stop”. But he had not been strong enough to pull away and had been told: “‘You’re enjoying this.”

Mr Welling added: “On one occasion the defendant showed him pornographic computer images. Matters came to a head in November 2010 when the headmaster at the victim’s school became aware of inappropriate comments.

He spoke to the victim and disclosures were made.”

The rapist, from east Dorset, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, denied forcing his young cousin to have sex with him.

But DNA evidence confirmed his victim’s account of events and he entered guilty pleas on the day of his trial.

Mr Welling said: “The delay caused untold stress for the family and prevented any therapy to assist the victim.”

Defending, Charles Gabb stressed that his client had a low IQ, adding: “His age at the time was 12 or 13, maybe even 11.

Both victim and defendant are intrinsically vulnerable in their own way. He has the full support of his family who are in court.”

Imposing a youth rehabilitation order, Judge John Harrow described the offences as “wicked”.

The boy has already signed the sex offenders’ register and will be banned from unsupervised contact with under-16s.

He will be supervised for two years, must live in a publicly funded local authority residence for six months and take part in a programme to address his complex needs, associated with sexually inappropriate behaviour.

His mother agreed to the judge making a one-year parenting order, which will involve three months of counselling and attending guidance sessions to help her son.

Sentencing the boy, Judge Harrow said: “I can tell you now that, even at 15, most boys who behave like this go into custody for a very long period of time.

“The only reason that is not happening is because you have additional learning difficulties and I have to take this into account.

“It happened lots of times. He worshipped you, he trusted you and you broke that trust in the most awful way.

“They all add up to a long time away from home in a penal environment. I cringe to think what experience that would be for you; you may well be bullied.

“Nothing will be served by sending you to custody; you will just come out with exactly the same problems.”