SA Judge Says Teens Do Not Realise Underage Sex Is A Serious Crime Carrying A Seven-Year Jail Term

A JUDGE has refused to immediately jail a young man for having sex with a 13-year-old girl saying today’s youth do not realise underage sex is a serious crime.

District Court Judge Rosemary Davey says Sasha Pierre Huerta, 21, was not a predator and his teenage victim “was looking for” a sexual encounter.

In transcripts viewed by The Advertiser, Judge Davey says teens living in our “overtly sexualised” world are ignorant of the maximum seven-year jail term for underage sex.

“Regrettably — and I don’t live in an ivory tower — that kind of criminal conduct is happening day in, day out,” she says.

“In fact, if you ask most 17-year-olds or 16-year-olds whether they know (underage sex) was an offence carrying seven years’ imprisonment, they would die with their leg in the air.

“It’s just crazy, in my view, that we maintain this law and we do not pass the message on out into the community.”

Huerta, 21, of Walkerville, pleaded guilty to one count of having sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 14 years.

He admitted that, in February this year, he had sex with the girl, 13, following an all-ages party in the city.

Huerta had met the girl earlier that month at Marble Bar, sparking sexually-explicit Facebook interactions during which she claimed she was 14 years old.

Do you think our children fully understand that underage sex is a serious crime?

In the transcript viewed by The Advertiser, the court was told the girl dressed “like a 23-year-old” and “presented herself as a woman”, attending bars and events she could not lawfully enter.

“This is a girl who was not a girl who was sitting at home just putting Barbie dolls away,” Judge Davey said.

“This is a girl who was out there wanting to party and mix with older people, who put herself out there.”

The transcript records the fact a school class was sitting in the court’s public gallery as sentencing submissions were heard.

Lawyers for Huerta said their client and the girl agreed to have sex — even though she could not lawfully consent, and he was aware of her youth — in his bed at his home.

Judge Davey said she doubted the school class in the gallery understood their burgeoning sexuality could lead to criminal charges.

“I’m not suggesting that it’s not a serious matter for a man, although he is a young man too, to have sexual intercourse with a person underage,” she said.

“I would like to do a straw poll of the young people sitting in court at the moment — I’m not going to — to find out how many of them realise it’s a serious crime to even have touching of the genital area under the age of 17.

“It’s just that I find it extraordinary that there’s never public discussion about (the fact) we have a whole generation of young people having sex ... which is a crime.”

In sentencing, Judge Davey told Huerta it was “a crazy mixed up world we live in”.

“The reason why the law is as it is, is to protect young people from themselves,” she said.

“Whilst the media and the world we live in might encourage young people to think they are in control of their bodies and their sexuality from a very young age, you know ... that with sexual development one does not necessarily have the maturity to make decisions about sexual intercourse at an early age.”

Judge Davey said Huerta’s offending was not predatory and that he was “deeply shocked, upset and contrite” about his actions.

She imposed a two-year jail term, suspended on condition of a two-year good behaviour bond.

“One of the reasons why I suspended the period of imprisonment is because I think it is most unlikely we’ll see you back here again,” she said.

“You have your whole life ahead of you. Be good.”

http://www.news.com.au/national/south-australia/sa-judge-says-teens-do-not-realise-underage-sex-is-a-serious-crime-carrying-a-sevenyear-jail-term/story-fnii5yv4-1226857025724