16-year-old boy convicted of rape for living with 13-year-old girlfriend

From Baidu news:

Recently, a typical rape case with warning significance was tried in Shenzhen Luohu District Court. A 16-year-old boy (at the time of the crime) was in love with a 13-year-old girl and had lived together. Although both parents did not take further legal action, the boy was prosecuted by the authorities. First instance trail convicted him of rape, the court sentenced him 1 year and 3 months imprisonment.

They are boyfriend and girlfriend

The boy in the case Xu, born in August 1995,was only 16 years old at the time of the crime in 2011. According to the prosecutorial office, Xu and the victim Cheung (female, born on Jun 11, 1998, was 13 at the time of the crime) met in early August 2011 and became boyfriend and girlfriend since then. In the evening of August 5, 2011, knowing Cheung was under 14 years of age, Xu still had sexual intercourse with her at his place. Therefore, the prosecutorial office charged Xu with rape.

During the hearing in the Luohu District Court, the defense attorney of Xu claimed that Xu was under18 at time of the offense. He should be subjected to a lighter punishment. Plus, he had been in a good behavior after being arrested and he showed a sense of remorse. Furthermore, Xu did not cause other serious consequences to the victim. The defense attorney also emphasized that the educational level of the defendant was not high and he was still very young. With unhealthy trends in the society, he might not be good at adjusting and at self-control as adults. In addition, the victim and he were in a relationship and the sex was consensual. Hence, subjectively a less severe crime, and less harmless to the society. The defense attorney hoped the court gives less than one year of prison sentence.

During the time of the crime he was on probation

Although the court agreed with the defense attorney’s reasons of lighter punishment, but did not take his advice on the sentencing. Xu was arrested and taken into custody after a robbery case on September 7 2010 and was then released on bail on March 9 2011. The Court thought that when someone committing a new crime during probation period, according to the law shall revoke his probation and receive punishment for both crimes. Therefore, the court charged Xu with rape and sentenced him to 1 year and 3 months. He was also found guilty of the robbery and sentenced to 10 months with 1000 yuan fine. The total sentence was 2 years and 1 month.

China’s Criminal Law (number two hundred and thirty six, paragraph 2) states: having sex with young girl under age of 14 constitutes rape regardless of being consensual or not, shall be severely punished.