Sean Hogg, 17, raped a 13 year old girl in Dalkeith Country Park, in Midlothian, Scotland. In a judgement that has made headlines, he was not sent to prison, and instead given a ‘community order’ because he ‘is too young to go to prison’.
The girl, now 18, described the impact the sentencing had on her: “My anxiety went so bad, I felt I couldn’t breathe, in my head I thought he was going to come for me, he was going to want to hurt me.
Now it makes me think why did I even bother reporting the rape in the first place. I was back to being that 13-year-old wee girl, scared of the unknown. Is this the message we want to send out to girls, to children and women who are sexually assaulted and raped?”
Her lawyer, Aamer Anwar, tweeted: “My client and her family believe a failure to appeal 270 hours community service sentence for her rape by Sean Hogg would be a serious breach of justice by Crown Office.”
A spokesperson for Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service told the newspaper: “The Crown is currently considering whether there are grounds for lodging an appeal against this sentence.”
