A 21-year-old has been sentenced to a year in jail for having unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl who was reportedly his girlfriend.
Gray’s Farm resident was sentenced by Justice Iain Morley on Monday after he pleaded guilty to the offence.
The convict reportedly met the complainant in March 2019 and, according to the young girl, he was her boyfriend.
The facts of the case as presented in court state that on the evening of May 22 2019, the man invited the girl to a house. There, in the bedroom, he began to touch the child intimately.
The girl then laid back on the bed and the convict joined her and began to unbutton her pants. She rebuttoned them but he unbuttoned them again, before removing her pants and underwear and proceeding to have sex with her.
When the victim arrived home, she was asked about her whereabouts and confessed what had happened.
A report was made to Gray’s Farm Police Station and the minor was examined.
The man was subsequently charged with the offence which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
The convict claimed he didn’t know that the girl was 13 years old, nor that she was still in school.
The judge considered several factors and concluded that the man should spend 12 months in jail, a portion of which was reduced as he had pleaded guilty.
He had already spent six months on remand, and will therefore only have to spend two months in prison.