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| No punishment for man who raped girl, 12 | No punishment for man who raped girl, 12 |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A man who admitted raping a 12-year-old girl has walked free from court. | |
| Daniel Cieslak, 21, had believed the girl - who he met in a taxi queue in Edinburgh in July 2015 - was 16. He burst into tears when police later revealed her true age. | Daniel Cieslak, 21, had believed the girl - who he met in a taxi queue in Edinburgh in July 2015 - was 16. He burst into tears when police later revealed her true age. |
| The judge, Lady Scott, said she was taking the "wholly exceptional decision" not to sentence Cieslak. | The judge, Lady Scott, said she was taking the "wholly exceptional decision" not to sentence Cieslak. |
| Instead, she gave the first offender an absolute discharge at the High Court in Glasgow. | |
| She said: "I do not consider there is any need for, or public interest in, punishment. To do so would in my view be disproportionate given the nature of the criminal culpability here." | She said: "I do not consider there is any need for, or public interest in, punishment. To do so would in my view be disproportionate given the nature of the criminal culpability here." |
| Cieslak, who was 19 at the time of the offence, had earlier pleaded guilty to the rape charge. | |
| Taxi queue | |
| The court heard that the girl had travelled to Edinburgh on a Friday in July with her 13-year-old friend, where they met more friends and bought vodka. | |
| At about 04:00, the girl and her friend met Cieslak in a taxi queue. | |
| The victim said she was 16 and her friend was 17. The taxi driver later said he thought the girl was 20. | |
| Mr Cieslak then invited them to a party at his friend's house, where he had sex with the 12-year-old. | |
| The court heard she left the next morning, and there had been no suggestion of her being distressed. | |
| Lady Scott told Cieslak that the case was one of "strict liability" as anyone under the age of 13 was deemed to be incapable of giving consent. | |
| This was to both protect young girls from "predatory adult males" and to "protect them from themselves". | |
| However, she said the statutory offence had "a very wide scope" and that there were a number of "exceptional circumstances" in the case. |