A court has unbelievably ruled that an 11-year-old child ‘consented’ to sexual relations with a 28-year-old man because she did not verbally and physically protest.

The young girl had been lured to the man’s home in Montmagny, near Paris, in April this year, where he sexually assaulted her. Yet French prosecutors ruled that they could not justify charging the man with rape as there was no ‘violence, constraint, threat or surprise’.

The 28-year-old man was instead charged with sexual abuse of a minor, according to The Local.

The girl’s family insist she was raped and say she was ‘paralysed with fear’ throughout her ordeal. Her mother told a French news website: ‘She thought it was too late, that she didn’t have the right to protest, that it wouldn’t make any difference, so she went into auto pilot, without emotion and without reaction.’

The decision has sparked outrage in France, with experts saying ‘submitting is not consenting’. Children’s rights group have called for new laws similar to those in the UK to protect children from predators.

In the UK, intentional penetration of a child under 13 is classed as rape as it is considered those aged 12 and under are not legally able to give consent to any form of sexual activity.

Read more: http://metro.co.uk

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