A UK schoolboy who raped a five-year-old girl he was babysitting has escaped jail after a judge ruled he had been “corrupted” by pornography.
The 14-year-old boy — who cannot be named for legal reasons — blindfolded the girl before forcing her to perform an indecent act on him last December.
The boy appeared in Cambridge Crown Court on Monday, where Judge Gareth Hawkesworth sentenced him to three years of community service, blaming “the world and society” for exposing the teen to hardcore pornography.
“You have not shown any particular sexual interest in children,” the judge said. “I’m satisfied it was impulsive and I believe you have become sexualised by your exposure to and the corruption of pornography.
“Your exposure at such a young age has ended in tragedy. It was the fault of the world and society.”
The judge said the teen’s crime could have seen him jailed for more than six years.
The teen had been paid to babysit the girl — who lived in a nearby house in Cambridge, east England — when the attack occurred shortly before Christmas last year.
He was caught after the girl told her father about the assault. In his first interview with police, the boy admitted to regularly watching pornography online.
He pleaded guilty to one count of raping a girl under 13.
The boy’s lawyer Julia Flanagan said her client regretted his actions and was no threat to any other children or women.
“We have a very frightened and remorseful boy who is very ashamed of what he has done,” Julia told the UK’s Daily Mail.
“He knows it will follow him for the rest of his life. He is marked to some as a sexual deviant for ever.”
In addition to his three-year community service order, the boy is also banned from accessing pornography of any kind.
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