Up to 50 teenagers who sent a video of a 15-year-old boy allegedly raping an unconscious girl could be placed on a sex offenders register if convicted for possession of child pornography, a child cyber safety expert says.
NSW Police have opened an investigation into the alleged rape of the teenage girl who had passed out drunk at a house party in Sydney’s eastern suburbs earlier this month.
Another 15-year-old boy, who police have also charged, filmed the alleged rape on his mobile phone and distributed it to at least 50 other teenagers, News Corp reported.
He yesterday appeared in Sydney’s Children’s Court charged with the production and distribution of child abuse.
Former police officer and a school consultant on cyber safety, Susan McLean, said the alleged incident may have many severe legal implications for all parties.
“Rape is [still the more serious offence], and I think there is multiple facets to this whole incident,” she said.
“There is the initial rape, and that sexual assault there. There’s the fact the alleged perpetrator of the rape asked his mate to film it. There’s the agreement of the mate to allegedly film it, and then of course there’s the sharing allegedly of that footage.”
Ms McLean said the laws around child pornography and recording and distribution of abuse did not preclude teenagers from harsh sentences.
“Ten is the age of legal liability in Australia, so once they’re over the age of 10, it means that they’re legally accountable for their actions,” Ms McLean said.
“When a penalty is imposed, the magistrate or the judge must take into account the whole situation — the criminal background of the offender, if there is any, remorse, regret, impact on the victim.
“I would say this is at the higher end of the impact on the victim — I would suggest that there would be jail served in this.”