Schoolboy rapist put on probation

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A schoolboy who raped a 15-year-old girl while she slept has been put on probation.

A court heard that the girl woke up to find the boy on top of her at a house in Carluke, South Lanarkshire, in April last year.

The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was 14 at the time of the assault but is now 15.

Lord Malcolm told the boy he was clearly "a vulnerable young man" and put him on probation for three years.

Passing sentence at the High Court in Edinburgh the judge said: "Normally such an offence will carry a custodial disposal, but I am satisfied that there are exceptional circumstances present in your case which lead to a different outcome."

At an earlier hearing, the boy admitted assaulting and raping the girl while she was asleep and incapable of giving or withholding consent.

Learning difficulties

The court was told he set-up his X-Box so that the victim and another girl could view a DVD and was invited to watch it with them.

The girl fell asleep during the film and woke to find the teenager on top of her.

Her father later contacted the police.

When officers went to the boy's home they were informed he had run away.

Efforts to trace him were unsuccessful, but he later returned home and was taken to Lanark police station by his parents.

Defence counsel Frank Gallagher said the accused was a "young man with learning difficulties".

Reports prepared for the judge showed that the schoolboy had a mental age of "at best in the region of eight years old".

The court heard that the accused's understanding of rape was when a woman was taken away somewhere against her will and forced to have sex.

The judge said the he had also been assessed as posing a low risk of re-offending.

The teenager was ordered to attend sessions with a psychiatrist as part of his probation and placed on the sex offenders' register.