A 12-year-old girl who was brought to the hospital with stomach pains subsequently gave birth to her brother’s baby, a court heard.
The child was just 11 years old when she was raped in the family home by her 14-year-old brother.
The siblings grew up in a “dysfunctional” environment where the parents had little control and established a culture of “secrecy and deceit” as well as “blurred sexual boundaries,” according to Swansea Crown Court.
When he stood in the dock for sentence, the adolescent father – who is now 16 and cannot be identified for legal reasons – had earlier pleaded guilty to two charges of statutory rape.
Prosecutor Georgina Buckley said the offense was discovered after the teenager was sent to a hospital in Carmarthenshire in the early hours of the morning complaining of terrible stomach aches. She gave birth in a matter of hours.
The court heard that a midwife carefully questioned the child whether she had had intercourse, and the minor answered that she didn’t know. When questioned if she had consented, she stated she believed so but wasn’t sure.
Buckley said it was unclear if the girl was aware she was pregnant or not. She told a midwife she didn’t know, but she was overheard telling other people in the hospital that she did.
The police were called in, and the girl’s teenage brother was interrogated. He revealed to investigators that he and his sister had been “wrestling” downstairs while his parents were away on one occasion and that they had then gone upstairs to wrestle on the bed because it was more comfortable. He said they started kissing before taking off their clothes and having intercourse.
The prosecution stated that there was no evidence of coercion or threats in the event. In an impact statement given in court, the girl stated that she didn’t want to go home anymore and that she simply wanted to live the typical life of a girl her age and that she wanted the greatest life for her kid.
Dean Pulling, representing the adolescent defendant, stated that the offending stemmed from “difficult and dysfunctional conditions” in the family unit, where the mother and father fostered a culture of “secrecy and deceit.”
According to the various reports before the court, the children were subjected to a “dysfunctional, negligent, and perhaps abusive upbringing” with no parental supervision or direction and “blurred sexual boundaries.” The defendant, according to the barrister, has been constantly exposed to pornography in the family household since the age of ten.
“Children are the products of their upbringing and the environment they are exposed to,”
Pulling said.
The defendant was now living with foster parents, reacting well to their good influence, and was sorry, according to the court.
The council requested that the court accept the recommendations in the reports and issue a non-custodial sentence, stating that “custody would achieve nothing but cost a lot.”
Judge Christopher Vosper QC imposed a two-year juvenile referral order with monitoring and activity requirements on the adolescent. For the next 30 months, the defendant will be a registered sex offender.