SA Police officer’s son spared any penalty for sex crime against 15-year-old girl

An SA Police officer’s son has been spared both conviction and penalty despite “quite forcefully” making a 15-year-old girl perform a sex act on him at night.

An SA Police officer’s son, originally charged with rape, has been spared both conviction and penalty despite “quite forcefully” making a 15-year-old girl perform a sex act on him at night.

On Thursday, the Youth Court declined to record a conviction even though prosecutors said the girl only “went along” with the boy because she “did not want anything bad to happen”.

The incident occurred last year, when the boy was under 18 – meaning he cannot be identified.

Although prosecutors accepted the boy’s confession in a plea bargain deal, they said his “serious” offending warranted at least a conviction and suspended sentence.

Magistrate Luke Davis disagreed, saying he would sentence the boy on the basis that the girl had consented to sex.

“That must follow, given the withdrawal of the more serious charge … obviously, consent is not a defence to the charge given her age,” he said.

“It’s not an excuse, but I do note that all parties would have probably been drinking way too much.

“The stigma it would cause you to have a conviction for this type of offending would, realistically, haunt you for years to come.

“That blot on your character, on your criminal history, would make going along in your life very difficult.”

The boy was initially charged with two counts of engaging in sexual intercourse without consent, but pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful sexual intercourse.

Rebecca Anderson, prosecuting, said the victim had attended a party on the night of the incident, where she consumed some alcohol.

She said the victim had an argument with a friend of hers, and was asked to leave the party, after she had kissed the officer’s son — who followed her.

“He asked ‘will you (perform a sex act)?’ and she said she had to go,” Ms Anderson said.

“He took hold of the victim’s head and pushed toward her in a thrusting motion … he was quite forceful … she did not move.”

Nick Healy, for the boy, dubbed the incident “unfortunate”, said it involved “a considerable amount of wine-drinking” and asked his client be referred to a family conference.

Mr Davis said intoxication was no excuse for the boy’s actions, nor was the victim to blame for what had happened.

“I’m prepared to take the unusual step of ordering a family conference … you are a young man who should not be here,” he said.

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