SHAME

What a terrible past couple of days for the Scottish justice system. Judge Lord Lake decided to spare a 21 year old rapist a jail sentence because he got a bit weepy in the dock. And apparently given he was 17 at the time, it should be more about 'rehabilitating the offender' rather than showing them proper punishment. This boy, Sean Hogg, physically restrained a 13 year old girl and subjected her to the worst sexual assault and rape, and HE's the one getting weepy!

So, in Scotland you can get married, join the army, drive a car and vote on the future of the nation but you can't do time for raping a young girl. Un-f'n-believable. I honestly don't care whether it's an SNP thing, a whole parliament thing, an independent body thing or a combination of all of those. All I know is a girl is scarred for life and has been completely failed by justice. I genuinely don't know how that judge will be able to sleep at night. But I'm sure he will quite happily, totally detached from reality. Apparently the judge has lots of previous for over-leniency. If anything, hopefully this case shines a light on this charlatan and we see a swift end to his career.

I'm obviously not the first to say it but it's true that this case sets a horrific precedent. Any young man aged 25 and under with a notion for raping a teenager can do so with nothing more to fear than some community service and a place on the sex offenders register. Somewhat better than being locked up and having your freedom taken away (not to mention the 'treatment. Unlike the victim who will spend the rest of her life fearful of being outside by herself.

And to make things even worse, it turns out the judge was talking absolute pish in regards to the limits of the sentencing guidelines, as outlined by a proper defence solicitor.

1/14 -🧵🪡 on the outrage over Sean Hogg, 21, who raped girl, 13, in park freed from court after judge considered him too young to be jailed & imposed 270 hours community service- but sentence guidelines for young people don’t stop custodial sentences👇https://t.co/gUU77mnEy5

— Aamer Anwar✊🏾🏳️‍🌈#BlackLivesMatter (@AamerAnwar) April 4, 2023

To make matters worse, it's been turned into a political thing for many. The blindly loyal SNP base cry that the judge was likely a conservative minded unionist, while the other side blame Humza Yousaf for allowing it to happen. And that's really not the point. Politics has to be cast aside in this but just as Hogg is desperate to protect his ability to walk around freely, so the masses would prefer to protect their own brainwashed ideals over a girl's right to justice.