Assault by penetration IS rape! Forced Unlawful Carnal Knowledge. See why I hate the 'F' word so much?
English law only recognises penile penetration as rape, assault by penitration is a new offence since 2003. Assault by penetration still carries a maximum life sentence but when the sexual offences law was reformed recently it was decided to differentiate between penile penetration to any other penetration. Although by legal definition there is a difference, the seriousness of the offence is not diminished as shown through the maximum life sentence.
The sexual offence laws of this country had a major reform with the Sexual Offences Act 2003 as the old laws were seen as archaic. Reformation of the law has led to more convictions, where prior many got off on technicalities.
Back to the topic... Why on earth would a "warning" be given for assaulting a child?!
That's exactly whatI was wondering...possibly parent unwilling to alow the child to testify or the child was too traumatized to testify?
It wouldn't be the case that the parent wouldn't allow the child to testify. The guy was given a 'caution', not a warning. Personally i am disgusted that the police can give cautions for this, there has been media debate on this as it is not widely known that police are allowed to do this.
If police give a caution, one of the criteria has to be that the suspect admits to the offence. Therefore there would be no need for the child to testify anyway, the suspect has already admitted his guilt.
Paul