Pregnant 12-year-old's boyfriend charged: Both lied about their age on Tuenti, court hears
Pregnant 12-year-old's boyfriend charged: Both lied about their age on Tuenti, court hears
A MAN of 23 from Llíria (Valencia province) is facing jail after getting a 12-year-old girl pregnant through what they both maintain was a consenting relationship.
The girl, who is now 14, suffered a miscarriage as the pregnancy was ectopic, which led to peritonitis and nearly cost her her life.
She had met her boyfriend, who was 21, on the social network Tuenti, and both had lied about their age – he claimed he was 16 and the girl said she was 14.
Said to be completely smitten by her new boyfriend, the girl said: “When we had sex, I followed his instructions. I'd never done it before and hadn't planned to do it that morning, but I didn't feel under any pressure.”
When she told him she was pregnant, the young man apparently lost interest in her.
“He told me I had to have an abortion and that I could not possibly have the baby.
“I decided to report him as I felt betrayed, but I don't want them to punish him now because the mistake was mine as well as his.
“For this reason, I withdrew the charges, but they told me it was too late as the case was already in court.”
The case went to court after the girl's mother found out.
“She told a friend at school that she was pregnant; her teacher overheard and told me. The boy said he was 16, but my daughter was very childlike for her age – she was the smallest in her class,” the schoolgirl's mother said.
The daughter confessed to her mother that she had arranged to meet her boyfriend at the school gates at 08.00hrs and that they went to a park where they had sex.
“My daughter was mad about him. She told me she loved him. But then I discovered the boy was actually 21,” the mother revealed.
The girl admitted to the court that she had pretended to be older than she was when chatting to the boy on Tuenti, but that she had later told him she was younger – although it is not known whether he was aware at the time they had sex that she was under the legal age of consent, which was 13 at the time.
It has now been raised to 16 to provide greater protection for children, particularly in light of a case last year when a 13-year-old girl was shot dead by her boyfriend of 39.
Her parents had tried to get the police to stop them from seeing each other when they were 12 and 38 respectively, but officers took so long to act that the girl turned 13 in the meantime and they had no legal grounds to do so.
