Girl's Bebo pics save Dylan Murray from jail sentence

**Marv** · August 7th, 2009, 04:49 PM

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...otos-Bebo.html

A youth who had unlawful sex with an 11-year-old girl walked free yesterday after a court was shown graphic content from the girl's Bebo site.

Dylan Murray, 16, escaped custody after a sheriff was shown scantily clad images of the girl and highly sexual language used by her on the social networking site.

Perth Sheriff Court was told that the case was 'depressing' because it involved such a young girl being involved in inappropriately adult behaviour.

Advocate Ronnie Renucci, defending, said: 'Although she is only 11 she seems to be very much more mature for her age. It is very clear from these photographs she does not appear as an 11-year-old.

'It would be very difficult for anyone to think that girl was only 11, far less a boy who was only 15 at the time. The complainer in this case appeared significantly older than her 11 years.
[...]

Mr Renucci told the court that his client did not look any older than 16, in contrast to his victim, who described herself as a 'banging baby' on her web page.

He told the court that the girl had also managed to down two litres of cider, without appearing to be overly drunk, before agreeing to have sex with his client.

'This is not a case where there was no consent. It wasn't a case where he had gone ahead and forced himself on the girl. He asked if she wanted to have sexual intercourse and she agreed to that.'

Mr Renucci said Murray believed the girl was the same age as him, and handed three website pictures of the girl - one captioned 'tits oot' - to Sheriff Michael Fletcher.
[...]

The court was told that on 18 October the girl told someone that she was worried she might be pregnant because her period had not started as expected.

'The matter was reported to sexual health workers who carried out a pregnancy test which confirmed she was not pregnant.

'Due to the age of the complainer the situation was reported, both to her mother and the police. She was contacted but declined to submit to a medical examination due to embarrassment.

'The accused was interviewed and admitted having had sexual intercourse with the complainer. He indicated that he believed she was older than she was.'

Mr Kempton said: 'She had a matter-of-fact perspective about the incident and indicated she would not have informed anyone about it but for the fact she thought she was pregnant.'
[...]

Murray was placed on probation for two years and will have his details added to the Sex Offenders Register for the same period

**jenthgr8** · August 7th, 2009, 05:59 PM

She declined to submit to a medical exam due to embarrassment? This kid has no business having sex. She's embarrassed to have a medical exam, but not a bunch of strangers between her legs? That kind of immaturity is a huge flashing neon sign that you are not ready to be fucking around!

This whole story leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Basically, because she was a slut anyway, it was OK for the boy to have "unlawful" sex with her? I don't know how to feel about that.

**ScribbleMuse** · August 7th, 2009, 07:09 PM

Originally Posted by jenthgr8

She declined to submit to a medical exam due to embarrassment? This kid has no business having sex. She's embarrassed to have a medical exam, but not a bunch of strangers between her legs? That kind of immaturity is a huge flashing neon sign that you are not ready to be fucking around!

This whole story leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Basically, because she was a slut anyway, it was OK for the boy to have "unlawful" sex with her? I don't know how to feel about that.

I don't think the court was saying that--I got the impression that perhaps given the young age of the defendent (15), and the behavior of this girl, it would have been understandably hard to tell the difference. I mean, it is technically illegal in most places here in the US for an 18-year-old to have sex with a 15-year-old, and I've seen people say plenty that the defense that the girl LOOKED older is not an excuse, that as the mature adult, the older person is expected to do whatever it takes i guess to make sure she's 18.

In this case, the ages are even harder. At 15, this boy would be able to say that even consensual sex with an 18-year-old is rape, because a 15-year-old isn't legally thought to have the maturity to make a proper decision. So if the girl in this case is drinking, is acting much older, is looking much older, why would the same 15 year old boy be held responsible?

In this case i think the right decision was made, and that now charges need to be brought against those who are truly at fault--the girl's parents.

At 11, there is absolutely no excuse that she is unsupervised, that she is even allowed in teh circumstances that allow her to have sex, much less consentual sex, with anyone, regardless of age. At 11, she is a child, no matter HOW old she acts.

My daughter will be 11 next month. She has a couple friends who have been here, and it's honestly scary how physically developed these girls are. Without proper supervision it does not surprise me that a child can "consentually" agree to sex. These kids are exposed to tremendously adult pressures and reality every day. :(

This sounds like it could have been a tragic result for the boy, IMO. Is it right? No, but I believe him when he would have said he thought she was older, and he is just a kid himself. I don't think it's right or fair that we can say a 15 year old isn't emotionally mature enough to consentually agree to sex, but yet is emotionally mature enough to prosecute for consentual sex when it seems that it was poor supervision and not rape or molestation or anything like that.

The parents of this girl should be punished.