A 14-year-old girl who was repeatedly raped by another teenager has been threatened, verbally abused and her home egged, while she still has nightmares of her sexual assault.
"I'm working hard to not let what happened to me define me," she said in an impact statement.
The rapist, who cannot be named due to his age and for legal reasons, previously pleaded guilty to one count of sexual intercourse without consent. The charge was rolled-up to include multiple acts.
In the ACT Supreme Court on Tuesday, Justice Louise Taylor sentenced the boy, who was 15 at the time of his crimes, to a more than one-year-and-two-month suspended prison sentence.
Published sentencing remarks state the two children had a "flirtatious" relationship and wagged school one day in 2023 when the repeated rape occurred.
While they first had consensual sex in a swag at a home, the victim later said "no" and tried to push the boy away.
He ignored her and then raped the 14-year-old multiple ways.
The boy told her "he wanted to do it and that he knew the victim also 'wanted it'," but she responded "I don't."
The boy stopped the acts when another person entered the room, but when they left he started raping the girl again.
She repeatedly tried to push him away and said "no" but he continued.
The victim reported the sexual crimes to police three days later.
In an impact statement previously read to the court, the victim said she was now "scared every time I leave my house".
"My address was leaked and my house was egged," she stated.
On Tuesday, Justice Taylor said the victim was fearful she would suffer physical abuse from once-mutual friends, had been threatened by other students, verbally abused and received "dirty looks".
The girl described having re-occurring nightmares of her rape and missing weeks of school because her parents "feared for her safety".
The judge found the rape was aggravated by the boy not wearing a condom, despite the victim explicitly saying she would not have sex without one.
Justice Taylor said, as a result, the girl had also been exposed to sexually transmitted infections and pregnancy.
The court took the boy's personal circumstances into account, including him being neglected by his parents, exposed to family violence, drug-use and "outlaw motorcycle gang associates".
His school attendance was described as "shocking", and a report detailed mental health issues and an intellectual disability.
The boy told a report author: "I know I f---ed up ... I can only imagine what it has done to her [mentally], it has also made the lives of lots of people really difficult".
Justice Taylor said the teenager's parents had shown "their continued failure to support the young person throughout his current engagement with the youth justice system".
She detailed the boy attending court alone, against procedures requiring him to be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
"The young person's childhood has been marred by substantial neglect and abandonment. Accordingly, he has not received the kind of care or guidance that should attend to the lives of all children," Justice Taylor said.
The boy will also be required to be of good behaviour until January 2026.
- Support is available for those who may be distressed. Phone Lifeline 13 11 14; MensLine 1300 789 978; 1800-RESPECT 1800 737 732; Canberra Rape Crisis Centre 6247 2525.
