Man sentenced to 9 years in prison for sexually assaulting a child under the age of 16

A man who was accused of sexually assaulting a child under the age of 16 has been sentenced to 9 years in prison. 

The verdict against the defendant, Hasan Horoz, 32 who was on trial for sexually assaulting a child under the age of 16 was by a court in Lefkosa on Friday.

The court judge delivering the judgement emphasized that the law provides for life imprisonment for such crimes.

“Again, it is not possible to determine whether there is consent or not because of the weakness of willpower of children under 16 years of age. Therefore, it is not legally possible to talk about the consent of children under the age of 16 to sexual intercourse. As we have emphasized above, since it is not possible to express sexual preference and will before the age of 16, the legal benefit sought to be protected with this crime is the freedom of sexual preference and rights of the person" the judge said.

In terms of Criminal Law, the legal benefit that is desired to be protected is at this point. When we examine the doctor's reports before us, it is understood that the juvenile's ability to think abstractly has not developed, and her ability to establish cause-effect relationships and judgment is limited compared to her peers, the judge added.

The accused is 32 years old and 17 years older than the complainant, He is a person who has been married before and has a child and no mental disorder was detected in the examination. At this point, we are faced with a sexual relationship between a child whose biological age is 15 and below this age in terms of mental capacity, and a mentally healthy adult who is 17 years older than her.

Let alone not knowing the age of such a child, we see that the accused in the matter before us persistently committed this crime while he was warned by the people around him that the child was underage and that he could get into trouble. The accused first committed this crime in the construction of an apartment, then took the child to his residence in Düzova and kept her for 3 days and continued his actions.” 

The judge stated that it was understood from the statements of the defendant's lawyer that the same complainant had sexual intercourse with another person 7 months ago and that person was also tried and imprisoned.

“Although the lawyer of the defendant emphasized that the minor also victimized the defendant as a result of his lifestyle, this issue is not a fault that can be attributed to the complainant minor in the face of the above-mentioned doctor's reports and the legal situation. 

There is a child who is in need of protection and open to guidance, and being the victim of such an event more than once does not mean that he contributed to the commission of this crime according to neither social nor legal norms. It is the duty of adults, like the accused, to protect the minors and hand them over to their families, instead of taking advantage of their age and health.”

“As a result, it is not possible for us to punish the accused, who sees a minor who has sexual immunity as a sexual object, and takes advantage of his/her age and mental deficiencies, except for a punishment that binds freedom. We order the accused to be sentenced to 9 years in prison for the 1st and 2nd cases brought against him, and to have the social services prepare a report about the minor, once a month until the minor's age of 18, and submit it to our court.