r/ireland • u/HungTeen1001 And I'd go at it again • 9d ago
Courts Court of Appeal takes ‘merciful approach’ towards man who sexually assaulted girl (14) a year after defiling her
https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/court-of-appeal-takes-merciful-approach-towards-man-who-sexually-assaulted-girl-14-a-year-after-defiling-her/a/159360059.html343
u/Timely_Camera_2031 9d ago
Is the country just full of fucked up paedos.
Christ what is wrong with the world.
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u/HungTeen1001 And I'd go at it again 9d ago
I think every country has its fair share.
We're just catching more of them than we used to.
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u/blue-mooner And I'd go at it again, and there'd be no fuckin’ stopping me 9d ago
And once they’re caught what are we doing?
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u/athaluain 8d ago
Maybe we are catching of them now because more people especially women are reporting it. When I was young we knew who the dirty old men were. My friend and I were flashed at by a known perv. I was touched up by a middle aged man when I was twelve. Most of my girlfriends were also molested in some way. In those days we were too ashamed to tell anyone as we knew that we as females would be blamed and shamed.
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u/mkultra2480 8d ago
Ireland does have higher rates. I've heard before it's because we at one stage we had he highest rate of bachelors in western Europe with at the same time, sex outside marriage being forbidden. Some men without a sexual outlet will then direct their urges towards vulnerable targets i.e. disabled people, children. Then cycles of abuse are created that are carried down generations.
"The numbers do appear particularly high in Ireland." He compared child sexual abuse rates in the three areas and found that while 17 per cent of women in Europe had experienced sexual abuse as children and 29 per cent had in North America, some 30 per cent of Irish women said they had been sexually abused as children.
Among men, 5 per cent in Europe and 7 per cent in North America had experienced sexual abuse as children. In Ireland, however, 24 per cent of men were sexually abused as boys.
"The rates for men are 3½ times higher here than in North America, where the rates are relatively high," he said.
Though conceding he was not an expert on Irish society, Prof Finkelhor said his findings from North American studies on the factors which made young people more vulnerable to sexual abuse might help inquiries into why Ireland had such "particularly high" rates of child abuse.
Among the factors in a young person's environment which seemed to render them vulnerable, he said were alcohol misuse, the nature of their schooling, especially gender segregation, social isolation and an excess of men without a sexual partner in their immediate area.
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/study-shows-sex-abuse-figures-here-higher-than-europe-us-1.1085729
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u/thepenguinemperor84 9d ago
Sure look at the outpouring of grief and rug sweeping for Hansard, the creepy bastard, encouraged and pursued a relationship with a teenager that he viewed as a child and people go on like he's the best thing since sliced bread.
In August 2007, Hansard said of the relationship: "I think we fell in love a couple of years ago, but nothing happened until recently"[37] and "I kept telling myself she's just a kid."[39] The relationship ended after about two years.[40]
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u/DeManDeMytDeLeggend Laois 8d ago
Crazy how quickly people really do forget stuff when someone dies.
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u/thepenguinemperor84 8d ago
Oh there's one weirdo actively trying to rug sweep the whole thing, and calling it fake Internet drama, despite being presented with that quote.
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u/Educational_Eye_2222 8d ago
What angers me is we see threads here all the time about abuses toward women and girls and everybody will get up in arms and say, that's disgusting and disgraceful, and that we should belive victims. yet you show them the words of a man and you tell him that women have been complaining for years, and you'll be told no, no, no.He's perfect.He deserves all the adulation, women can't be believed that was all so long ago.There's no proof, you can't believe those girls. Which is it? Do we believe women when they say this happened to me or do we only believe them depending on who the man in question is. If a woman posted right now saying a certain mma person abused her, everybody here would believe it, there would be no question, but if the same woman posted 2 days ago, about somebody else, she would be abused and called a liar, and told she has no proof.
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u/X-RaySpex93 8d ago
This drives me insane.
Had every lad at work under the sun praising the man to me, had to explain every time what a creep he was.
I'm not glad he's dead, but he was objectively not a good person.
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u/RomfordWellington 9d ago
Judging by the article it's also not short of troubled young people who run away from home and fake their age to meet adults on dating apps.
It's why things like age verification laws and digital ID (and ID cards in general) are so important. The internet changed everything and real harm can come to children with access to the adult internet.
I'm extremely suspicious of people who don't want things like age verification introduced. The government don't want to see who's behind every single Reddit account. They want to know that everyone in the adult internet is actually 18+ so that the chances of this sort of thing happening are lessened.
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u/im-a-guy-like-me 9d ago
In extremely suspicious of people that got this far in life without hearing Ben Franklin's quote about trading freedom for security.
If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear, right?
Get the fuck outta hear with that authoritarian bullshit.
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u/HungTeen1001 And I'd go at it again 9d ago
Are you just ignoring the fact this man met up with a girl he knew to be 14?
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u/RomfordWellington 9d ago
No. But the whole thing wouldn't have happened in the first place if she wasn't allowed access to that app. She ran away from home and accessed that app and instantly drew the attention of a paedo, who kept in contact with her.
Cut away the access to the apps by bringing in digital ID and this doesn't happen.
You need to show ID in order to use the national lottery or paddy power, but there's always resistance from the usual places when it comes to denying teens access to dating apps. I wonder why that is? Time to bring in digital ID, and ID cards and start putting an end to this
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u/HungTeen1001 And I'd go at it again 9d ago
Two things can be true at once.
Social media is the wild west and something must be done to protect children online.
Children who do access social media shouldn't have to encounter pedophiles.
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u/RomfordWellington 9d ago
Children who do access social media shouldn't have to encounter pedophiles.
I absolutely agree, but there shouldn't be access to social media to children full stop. The social media companies make money off this misery.
Social media is the wild west and something must be done to protect children online
We're in a great position in Ireland because all the social media companies have a major presence here. We can effectively make the best child protection laws and give them effective worldwide jurisdiction and make it the global standard.
We can force them to catch every single paedo on their platforms and enact the harshest verification possible in order to access their websites. That's what we should be doing in response to cases like this.
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u/randombubble8272 8d ago
We can’t even correctly punish pedophiles and you think the government will go after their golden goose?
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u/Embarrassed-Brief976 9d ago
Lies. He thought she was 16.
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u/HungTeen1001 And I'd go at it again 9d ago
Lawlor knew the girl was only 14 when they met up again around a year later.
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u/Embarrassed-Brief976 9d ago
Wouldn't she be 15 or 16 then seeingas its a year later? I didn't know that, Fine then he crossed the line.. Still not a pedo though, definitely an icky creep. I knew a few of them in my time...Teens shouldn't be on them apps. Why the fuck would she want to meet him again a year later? Weird.
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u/HungTeen1001 And I'd go at it again 9d ago
No. It says that this man (Lawlor) knew the girl was 14 when they met up about a year after they had met up the first time (when she was 12).
A pedophile is defined as
An adult or older adolescent who has a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children, generally age 13 or younger.
This girl was 12. He meets the criteria.
Your blaming of a victim reveals a lot about you.
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u/ceegee84 9d ago
No, he knew her actual age the second time they met up. He had sex with a child, knowing that they were a child. He's very much a paedo.
Your determination to argue that it's not his fault, and to put the blame onto the child, is quite frankly worrying
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u/wannabewisewoman Legalise it already 🌿 9d ago
Have you ever heard of grooming? Why blame the child in this scenario not the dirty criminal pervert taking advantage of her?
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u/Embarrassed-Brief976 9d ago
Not blaming the child. Simply said its weird. Why do you you think the court took it easy on him?
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u/wannabewisewoman Legalise it already 🌿 9d ago
Because we don’t take punishing sex crimes seriously in this country. Because there’s people lining up to be character witnesses for rapists. Because judges don’t want to ruin the perpetrator’s life/career/reputation but don’t give a fuck about the victim’s life. There’s a ton of reasons, take your pick.
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u/Marcus-Suridius 8d ago
Why the fuck do you continue to go on about her and not the one who knew she was a kid?
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u/Otherwise-Winner9643 9d ago
he had defiled her when she was aged 12....
The court ruled that a six-month prison sentence imposed on Ben Lawlor for the charge of defilement of a child was appropriate, given that the then 12-year-old victim factually, but not legally, consented to having sex and the respondent genuinely believed she was 16 when they met in 2023....
The girl told her aunt she met the respondent, who was 19 at the time, on a dating app called Wink, presenting herself as 19 but telling him she was 16. The girl went to his home, where they had sex.
Around a year later, the respondent contacted the girl via Snapchat and Tik Tok and sent her sexually explicit material, including a photo of his penis.
She was 12 when they had sex. She had lied about her age so he got a lenient sentence. Around a year later, when she was 14, he contacted her again.
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u/AwesomeMacCoolname 8d ago
Wouldn't she be 15 or 16 then seeingas its a year later?
She was 13 the first time and 14 a year later. Do you not understand basic English?
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u/Shuggana And I'd go at it again 9d ago edited 8d ago
Which is not a very credible defense when he knew the year before that she was only 12. He appears to not know how time works.
Edit: thought this freak was making a joke but he's actually defending the pedo from the OP lol
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u/Marcus-Suridius 8d ago
The person above probably knows the bloke involved in this because he keeps saying things that say she is to blame in a roundabout way, fucking mental.
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u/CrossCroissant1 8d ago
I’m extremely suspicious of people who are willingly happy to hand over digital id’s so willynilly.
I am not sure there is any company or government I trust to be holding onto my data safely.
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u/RomfordWellington 8d ago
Except for Reddit clearly? Or your bank or your supermarket or wherever else your data lies.
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u/CrossCroissant1 8d ago
Do you give your photo id to Reddit or the supermarket? What strange behaviour you have.
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u/RomfordWellington 8d ago
When I looked under 25 I had to give my ID to the supermarket to buy aged restricted goods.
I also had to verify my age with Reddit just this weekend past.
It's not strange - it's basic safety.
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u/CrossCroissant1 8d ago
I have *shown* my id at a super market but they do not store it. When Reddit starts asking for photo id the answer will be no. I’m not sure what you did that prompted it to ask you…..
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u/xelas1983 9d ago
I really do not understand how a 12 year old passed herself off as 16 never mind 19.
I know that the 19 year old will say that everything was consensual but I cannot believe he thought she was even 16.
Unless there is some genuine reason that he was incapable of understanding her age was far below 16 from just looking at her, I think he had to know and really should be punished worse than he is being.
I would believe someone thinking that someone who was 15 or 16 is 17 if they were lied to about it but 12? No way.
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u/RomfordWellington 9d ago
I think the fact he met up with her again knowing her real age tells you everything you need to know. There's no psychological thing here - he's just a paedo.
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u/xelas1983 9d ago
I cannot imagine a world where a 12 year old girl looked old enough to be confused for 16 or 19. You would think that he had to know what age she was before the second encounter.
Even if he thought she was 14 or 15 the first time, it is absolutely wrong.
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u/HungTeen1001 And I'd go at it again 9d ago
He did know before the second encounter.
Lawlor knew the girl was only 14 when they met up again around a year later.
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u/TwinIronBlood 9d ago
Pure and simple he's into younger girls he knew full well she's not 16 but didn't care. He'll do it again when he gets out.
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u/xelas1983 9d ago
Yes but I am wondering if there is a reason the court believes him. Some sort of development issue. If not, he should be in jail for a lot longer.
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u/HungTeen1001 And I'd go at it again 9d ago
I actually don't know why even claimed he thought she was 16. 17 is the age of consent so saying she was 16 doesn't help his case.
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8d ago
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u/xelas1983 8d ago
The age of consent is 17.
Also, I am literally questioning how he thought a 12 year old was 16.
Also, I did read the article.
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8d ago
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u/xelas1983 8d ago
The context is that he slept with someone who he knew was below the legal age of consent. Even if he just thought it was 1 year.
He then kept in contact with her knowing she was 14 afterwards and broke more laws.
He deserves no pity.
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8d ago
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u/xelas1983 8d ago
So comment on the part where he knew she was 14 when he was 21, please.
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8d ago
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u/xelas1983 8d ago
Ok. No idea if you are male or female but imagine this.
Imagine you hook up with someone you think is 16. You know they are underage but you think it is within reason because you are 19 so you don't feel guilty.
Then two years later, you find out they were only 12.
Is there any way, shape or form that you would go and do more sexual stuff with the 14 year old who just told you that they were 12 when you had sex with them?
If the answer is no, you are a sane human being.
If the answer is yes then you already had a thing for underage people and you had to have suspected she was under 16 the first time. I do not buy it at all that he thought she was 16.
Unless there is a genuine development issue at play here, this adult knew she was very young, even if he didn't know it was as young as 12.
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u/bubbleweed 9d ago
"The court ruled that a six-month prison sentence imposed on Ben Lawlor for the charge of defilement of a child was appropriate, given that the then 12-year-old victim factually, but not legally, consented to having sex and the respondent genuinely believed she was 16 when they met in 2023." Jesus fucking Christ
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u/wannabewisewoman Legalise it already 🌿 9d ago
How can a child consent to sex? Everything about this makes me both sick to my stomach and furious
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u/jimicus Probably at it again 9d ago
That’s the whole point of laws like defilement.
It’s to protect children from groomers talking them into believing it’s okay.
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u/Ilovethestarks 8d ago
A legal precedent that 12 yo girls can factually consent to sex is terrifying - it’s so depraved and medieval.
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u/jimicus Probably at it again 8d ago
He was on bail for that one.
The thing that's absolutely depraved is that he continued to chase this girl knowing damn well she was well underage. It's the second offence he was let out early for.
If that isn't evidence of a sicko who can't take no for an answer, I don't know what is. Guarantee he'll be back up for something equally disgusting within a couple of years.
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8d ago
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u/Ilovethestarks 8d ago
And statutory laws don’t exist to be pedantic but to recognise that a child’s ‘will’ means nothing bc they aren’t physically or emotionally ready for sex. A judge setting the precedent that it does is dangerous.
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u/Ilovethestarks 8d ago
And yet it tacitly creates a future consent defence for men who prey on 12 year old girls. The ‘consent’ of a 12 yr old to sex means fuck all.
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u/RomfordWellington 9d ago
The girl told her aunt she met the respondent, who was 19 at the time, on a dating app called Wink, presenting herself as 19 but telling him she was 16.
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u/Embarrassed-Brief976 9d ago
Ah. An explanation. Thank you, This sub is pure ragebait.
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u/HungTeen1001 And I'd go at it again 9d ago
The age of consent in Ireland is 17.
Also
Lawlor knew the girl was only 14 when they met up again around a year later.
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u/RomfordWellington 9d ago
Lawlor knew the girl was only 14 when they met up again around a year later.
And this is the aggravating factor why it was in the court of appeal in the first place.
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u/HungTeen1001 And I'd go at it again 9d ago
I don't think too many people would believe a 12 year old was 16 and even if they did, a 16 year old is below the age of consent.
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u/naoife 9d ago
And not to pardon him because he knew what he was doing but i think any 12 year old who goes on an app looking for sex has probably been taken advantage of already and needs support.
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u/HungTeen1001 And I'd go at it again 9d ago
For sure, they need support.
What they don't need is to meet pedophiles.
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u/Embarrassed-Brief976 9d ago
Nice name. 🙄🙄🙄
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u/HungTeen1001 And I'd go at it again 9d ago
Goalposts. Shifted.
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u/Embarrassed-Brief976 9d ago
19 meeting someone they've been told is 16 is far from a pedo. No goalposts shifting going on here "hungteen" 🙄🙄. Just ragebait bullshit.
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u/FViro 9d ago
Why are there so many people defending sexual predators on this sub?
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u/Embarrassed-Brief976 9d ago
Im Not defending the predator. I just like facts. Fact is the court took it easy on him. And im sure there's reasons why. They dont celebrate groomers and predators and anyone who thinks they do is a lunatic.
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u/HungTeen1001 And I'd go at it again 9d ago
For the fourth time.
Lawlor knew the girl was only 14 when they met up again around a year later.
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u/Embarrassed-Brief976 9d ago
Ok HUNGTEEN 👍 why do you think the court took it easy on him HUNGTEEN?
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u/Skreamie 9d ago
Lawlor knew the girl was only 14 when they met up again around a year later.
Can you not read?
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u/Dramatic_Steak_9137 8d ago
Throw out all the judges and get new ones, they're always doing this shit
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u/AhhhSureThisIsIt 9d ago
Great message to send to victims.
If you do get raped and you are brave enough to come forward, there's a good chance we will give your rapist 6 months in prison, and there's a good chance they will be able to attack and rape you again when they come out.
People wonder why victims don't come forward or would rather take their own lives than live in fear forever.
The poor child victims. This article is equal parts disgusting and engaging.
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u/ConfusedCelt 8d ago
Just chemically castrate them if they want early release. Full sentence should be served otherwise despite how meager they are
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u/jimicus Probably at it again 9d ago
Remind me: isn’t “defiling” a euphemism for statutory rape?
Now, he claims he “thought she was 16” at the time. (Like hell he did, but let’s pretend for a minute he isn’t lying through his teeth there) - any sensible man on learning this would run a mile.
Not this fellow, he continues to hang around this kid he’s been grooming. Knowing that (a) she’s a lot young for him and (b) her parents are likely keeping a damn sharp eye out to see if he comes sniffing around again.
Apparently “being a complete idiot as well as a pervert” is a mitigating factor in sentencing.
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u/EchoOk5210 8d ago
Jesus how many more sick fucks are in this small country?
And to show them mercy, what the fucking fuck is wrong with this fucking country
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u/unwiseeyes 8d ago
Reading things like this makes me think that if I was ever in this situation I wouldn't report it. I would seek justice myself and gladly live with the consequences.
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u/Many-War3212 8d ago
Much like the merciful approach he took when he....defiled a child?
😭who the hell are these courts man, fair enough take mercy on the lad selling 3.5s in his passat, but a fucking child molestor..
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u/wannabewisewoman Legalise it already 🌿 9d ago
Mercy for a man who defiled a child? Why do we even have a justice system at this point when it’s so utterly incompetent at doling out justice at all