Defence Lawyers Claim 11 Year Old Can Consent To Sex in French Sexual Assault Case

We’re not sure in what world a 29-year-old having sex with an 11-year-old girl qualifies as anything other than assault, but apparently in France the issue’s not so clear cut. Besides a basic stature protecting children under the age of five, there is currently no French law in place designating a minimum age that a child can give sexual consent.

The absurd consequences of this legal loophole were highlighted in yesterday’s trial of a 29-year old man in a Parisian suburb, which centred around whether or not his 11-year-old accuser did in fact qualify as a child.

According to defence lawyer Marc Goudarzian, the fact that the girl was in 11 and ten months (and therefore almost 12) was enough to cast doubt on her victim status: ‘it changes the story. So she is not a child’. Even more absurdly, a second defence lawyer argued that if children have ‘sexual expressiveness’ and ‘an attitude of putting yourself in danger’ then ‘it doesn’t necessarily mean the person on the other side is a sexual predator.’ Right.

Perhaps most absurd, however, is that these arguments are legitimate terms of debate under current French legislation. The lack of a clear law identifying a child as being too young to give sexual consent creates grey areas in cases that are clearly black and white, and allows abusers to slip through the cracks.

Another major deficiency is French law’s narrow definition of rape as an act of sexual penetration committed by ‘violence, coercion, threat or surprise’. In November, a man accused of raping an 11-year-old was given a lighter sentence after the jury decided that violence and coercion were not a feature of the assault. Prosecutors adopted a similar stance in yesterday’s case, arguing that the lack of violence rendered it a case of sexual abuse rather than rape. The judge disputed this, however, and has consequently sent the case back for a more thorough investigation under a rape charge. That this 11-year-old can ‘at last be heard as a victim of rape’ was celebrated by her lawyer as a ‘victory for victims’. All things considered, this seems like a very hollow victory.

Thankfully, it looks like the French government might finally be doing something about this flagrant legal loophole. As part of a broader set of measures combating ‘sexual and sexist violence’, Macron has proposed introducing a minimum age for sexual consent (somewhere between 13 and 15), which he is expected to present to the French Cabinet next month. It's a change that is coming far too late, but it is a positive change nonetheless, and will hopefully set a precedence for greater vigilance in cases of sexual assault.

This article originally appeared on The Debrief.