Boy admits sexual assault on toddler in Lytham St Annes

[ccharles000]

A 14-year-old boy has admitted sexually assaulting a three-year-old girl at a house in Lancashire.

The court heard the girl's mother caught the teenager assaulting her daughter in Lytham St Annes in May.

Judge Jeff Brailsford said he hoped there "will be no lasting effect" on the victim and that she can "put it behind her and will forget".

The boy was given a 12-month referral order and put on the sex offenders register for two-and-a-half years.

Under the order he will be referred to specialists for counselling and education and may perform community service.

The teenager, who cannot be named because of his age, pleaded guilty to a sex assault and sexual touching at Blackpool Magistrates Court.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/lancashire/8583014.stm

[Berry Cool]

1. So, let me get this straight. The offender gets counseling, and the victim gets nothing?

She's supposed to just forget about it...they hope???

I know that most of the time memory doesn't really develop and solidify in kids until they're about 4 or 5, but I just wonder. What if this poor girl does remember?

I would say, don't push her or force her to remember, and don't tell her about it when she's older just to tell her, but if she has some kind of issues when she gets older, it's worth considering whether she does have any memory of this, even subconsciously.

I mean, I know the kid who did it needs help. Teenagers don't ordinarily do things like that unless someone else has done likewise to them. But I hope that if this girl does have a memory surface, the answer to her is something other than "Don't think about that."

[lbrtbell]

2. Is that judge insane?

Of COURSE a three-year-old is going to remember something that traumatic. Children are shaped heavily by what happens to them during the preschool years. I, myself, can remember events leading up to my third birthday party, and I have a lousy memory.

That punk deserves a harsher sentence than what he got.

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. Just "put it behind her?" You've got to be kidding me!

[WVRICK13]

4. Sorry About Your Luck 14 Year Old Boy

you are going away for life. That is the real solution to this mess. If anyone thinks he will stop this behavior as an adult they are delusional. As for community service, yeah I want him loose in my community. NOT.

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. And someone has been charged with sexually abusing the boy

From the BBC article:

"I also accept there is good evidence to suggest you were abused as a child and this helped to form the way you behaved."

From another report:

‘I accept you had a difficult childhood, which was one of neglect.'

‘I also accept there is good evidence to suggest you were abused as a child and this helped to form the way you behaved.’
...
An alleged abuser has now been charged in connection with assaulting the youth, Mr Townley told the court.

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/818789-boy-put-on-sex-register-aged-just-13

Others feel that it is possible to rehabilitate him. I know people say being abused is a life sentence, but there's no need to make it a literal one without an attempt at fixing him.

[Odin2005]

5. No counseling for the victim? that judge is a MORON.

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. There's nothing about "no counseling for the victim"

that's just the assumption in this thread. And a judge wouldn't be responsible for ordering counseling for the victim, a doctor would.

[proteus_lives]

6. That's insane!

He's a predator and they are giving him a free pass.

[4lbs]

7. I can vividly remember driving my little toy car around the tiled patio when I was 2.5 years old

I have no doubt that the girl will remember this traumatic event.

She's going to need counseling. If not now, then when she suddenly has deep seated feelings about it as a teenager or young woman.

Better it be now.