French trial on sex with 'minor' raises questions on consent

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A French man went on trial Tuesday for having sex with an 11-year-old girl, rekindling the strong debate on the age of sexual consent in the country.

The prosecutor’s office in the suburban town Pontoise decided to put the man on trial not for rape, but for charges of “sexual abuse of a minor under 15.”

Although the age of consent in France is 15, prosecutors can only get a rape conviction only if they can prove that a sex act was committed with “violence, coercion, threat or surprise.”

The suspect’s lawyers said that the girl, then 11, had consented to have sex with him, then 28, after meeting in a park. They also claim that their client thought she was over 15.

“She was 11 years and 10 months old, so nearly 12 years old. It changes the story,” defense lawyer Marc Goudarzian said Tuesday, according to the AP. “So she is not a child.”

The girl’s family had filed a rape complaint in the town of Montmagny, but prosecutors felt the suspect did not use violence or coercion, the AP reports.

A sexual abuse conviction would have the suspect face up to five years in prison, but if convicted of the rape of a minor under 15, he would get up to 20 years in prison.

The judge postponed the trial, saying that the prosecutors chose a wrong charge and ordered the case to be sent back for further investigation.

This case and similar ones in the past have resulted in child rights advocates and feminists calling for stricter rules on child sex abusers.

Meanwhile, the French government has proposed a minimum legal age for sexual consent, below which sex would be considered coercive. As yet, the age hasn’t been decided on, but it is expected to be between 13 and 15.

Age of consent laws elsewhere

A similar controversy on the age of consent has plagued the UK, the BBC reported in 2013, where some health experts have called for a lowering of the age from 16 to 15 since official figures suggest that up to a third of teenagers have sex before.

This lowering, they argued, would result in less social stigma on having sex early. Nick Clegg, deputy prime minister at the time, objected to the suggestion, saying that though he was concerned about “high levels of teen pregnancy,” lowering the age of consent was not the answer.

For some European countries, the age of consent is lower, such as 15 for Sweden and 14 for Germany and Italy.

In the US, the age of consent ranges from 16 to 18, depending on the state. However, an adult having sex with a minor, whether consensual or not, can garner a charge or conviction of statutory rape.

(With input from news agencies)

(Cover Photo: Defense lawyers for the suspect on trial for having sex with 11-year-old answer reporters' questions, February 13, 2018. /VCG Photo)