Rape victim urges Crown Office to appeal sentence given to attacker
Sean Hogg avoided a prison sentence earlier this month, despite being found guilty of raping a girl when she was just 13 in Midlothian
A lawyer representing a teenage rape victim is urging the Crown Office to appeal against the sentence handed to her attacker.
Sean Hogg was 17 when he raped the girl, then aged 13, in Dalkeith Country Park in Midlothian in 2018.
At the High Court in Glasgow earlier this month the 21-year-old was sentenced to 270 hours of unpaid work.
Sentence caused widespread controversy
The sentence sparked outrage and calls to review sentencing guidelines which advises custodial sentences should be imposed only on those under the age of 25, if no other sentence is appropriate.
Speaking to Forth 1 News lawyer Aamer Anwar told us about the impact this has had on the victim: “When her gran explained to her two weeks ago that Mr Hogg would be doing 270 hours of unpaid work she felt terrified, and trapped in her home once again.
“Her exact words to me were that she was back to being a 13-year-old wee girl scared of the unknown.”
Mr Anwar says his client is also concerned about the impact this could have on future rape cases.
"Why bother reporting rape? Nothing will happen"
He said: “She’s worried that many girls will see what’s happened to her and think well why bother reporting rape, nothing will happen anyway.
"She asked the question, is this the message we want to send out to girls, to children and women who are sexually assaulted and raped?"
Writing on Twitter Mr Anwar said: "My client and her family believe a failure to appeal 270 hours community service sentence for her rape by Sean Hogg would be a serious breach of justice by Crown Office."
A spokesperson for Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service told the Sunday Mail newspaper, which broke the story: "The Crown is currently considering whether there are grounds for lodging an appeal against this sentence."