How is it possible that a man who raped an 11-year-old girl has not been charged with rape?
The suspected paedophile, a 28-year-old man, was only convicted of “sexually abusing a minor under the age of 15″. In a state of shock brought on by her perpetrator’s behavior and therefore unable to retaliate, the young victim, Sarah, followed him into the building where she was abused twice. According to investigators, “there was no coercion”, and therefore it was not rape, which is also what the results of a Mediapart survey revealed.
Article 227-25 of the Penal Code states that, “if an adult sexually abuses a minor of 15 years, without the use of violence, coercion, threat or surprise, the punishment is 5 years imprisonment and a 75 000 euro fine”. As for whether there was ‘consent’, the Code leaves this to the discretion of the judges to assess, taking into account the victim’s age and the circumstances. It seems that Sarah’s age was not considered by the judges in this case.
Rape is currently defined as an act performed by violence, coercion or surprise, and is punishable by 20 years imprisonment where the victim is a minor.
But for Sarah’s mother, the little girl’s reaction, or lack thereof, could only be due to the state of shock she was in. She must have been absolutely petrified during the whole ordeal.
Mediapart spoke to Maître Diebolt, a specialist on this subject, who pointed out the apparent lack of understanding on the judge’s part regarding how the brain functions and responds in a rape situation.
“Many magistrates have not been educated in this subject and do not know how the brain functions during rape. Paralysis and dissociation lead to a type of anesthesia. As studies by psychiatrist Muriel Salmona have found, victims no longer feels fear. This is especially true for a child. In the movies, people put up a fight. But in real life, people are often paralysed. As Gisèle Halimi put it, “suffering is not consent”. And there is no way that the attacker could have misunderstood Sarah’s rejection of him and her distress.”
For women’s rights groups, “the question of consent, or the absence thereof, should never even feature in rape cases where the victim is a minor”.
The trial has been postponed until the 13th of February pending a possible change to the definition of ‘rape’ and giving the defence time to reconsider their case.
This is the translation of the article “Un pédophile évite une condamnation pour viol, la justice estimant que la victime de 11 ans était consentante !” which was published on Info Chrétienne.
