Harry Potter author JK Rowling has blasted “Progressive Scotland 2023” after a rapist who attacked a 13-year-old girl in a park was spared jail.
The Scots writer joined campaigners and politicians in condemning the sentencing of Sean Hogg, 21, who was handed a community payback order for attacking the girl in a Midlothian park on various occasions when he was 17.
Rowling tweeted: “Progressive Scotland 2023, where a man gets no jail time for raping a 13-year-old girl in a park.
“Young Scottish men are effectively being told ‘first time’s free.’”
First Minister Humza Yousaf said he understood the “astonishment” over the case but could not intervene.
Sentencing a weeping Hogg at the High Court in Glasgow on Monday, judge Lord Lake said if the offence had been committed by an adult over 25, he would have received a jail sentence of four or five years.
Instead Hogg was handed 270 hours of unpaid work, with the judge referring to new guidelines that make rehabilitation rather than punishment a primary consideration for under 25s.
Hogg, who raped his victim in Dalkeith Country Park in 2018, was also placed under supervision and put on the sex offenders register for three years.
Lord Lake said the victim’s age and vulnerabilities were “aggravating factors”, telling Hogg: “Prison does not lead me to believe this will contribute to your rehabilitation.”
The move sparked furious reaction from women’s rights groups and was described as “extraordinary” by a leading KC yesterday.
Jamie Klingler, who co-founded the Reclaim These Streets movement in response to the murder of Sarah Everard, compared the case to that of former Stanford University star swimmer Brock Turner - whose six-month sentence for sex crimes sparked national uproar in the US.
She told the Record the sentence sent a “dangerous” message to young people.
She said: “It feels like a horrific judgement has been made in this case.
“This is a textbook case where the victim’s rights matter less than those of the convicted.
“He’s the one who is too young to have to deal with the consequences of his crime yet she was a child and she will never get away from this.
“It took her four years to get justice and now there’s none.
“The fact he cried in court, I really don’t care. Can you imagine how many tears that child has cried? The consequences of sexual assault and trauma will last the rest of her life.
“He should live with the consequences of this for the rest of his life.
“Sean Hogg is the same as Brock Turner in America.”
Brock Turner was 21 when he was convicted by jury trial of sexual assault and attempted rape felonies in California in 2016.
He was sentenced to six months in jail, to be followed by three years’ probation, but was released after three.
The case sparked national outrage and lead to the judge being recalled from the bench and for the California government to make changes to rape legislation.
New guidelines for sentencing under 25s were introduced in Scotland in January 2022, recommending an “individualistic approach” taking into account the offender’s life experiences.
Tommy Ross KC said the sentence was “very unusual”.
He said: “It is an extraordinary sentence. I have been working in the high court for around 20 years and I have never seen anybody avoid prison for rape until (Monday).”
Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Jamie Greene described it as a “total insult” to the teenage victim, branding the SNP’s sentencing guidelines as “misguided”.
He asked new Justice Secretary, Angela Constance, to carry out a review of the guidelines.
Rape Crisis Scotland described the punishment as “inexplicable”.
Chief executive Sandy Brindley said: “It is hard to imagine a case more deserving of that judgement of unduly lenient than the rape of a 13-year-old girl.”
The Scottish Government said it does not intervene in individual cases but guidelines are the responsibility of the independent Sentencing Council, which was backed by all parties in parliament.
First Minister Humza Yousaf said: “For the vast overwhelming majority of cases where an individual is convicted of rape they end up with a custodial sentence and I can understand why people are concerned about this particular case. But it so important that the Government doesn’t intervene or interfere in decisions that are made by our justiciary.
“When I was Justice Secretary, rehabilitation and rehabilitating offenders was an important issue. We don’t want people to be in that revolving door of going from prison out into the community and back again.
“I can completely understand the concern people have got with the sentence given in this particular case. But again, it is for the judiciary to make a determination on sentencing and it is for the Crown to independently make a decision on whether to challenge that as being unduly lenient or not.”
A spokesman for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said: “As with all cases, the Crown will consider the sentence and give consideration to whether it might be unduly lenient.”
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our newsletter here.
