Man guilty of raping Scots schoolgirl 'could be given light sentence' due to age

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A man has been convicted of raping a teen girl in a ­classroom at lunch break while he was still a schoolboy.Zineelabibine Abbood forced his victim to go through a trial, and justice campaigners now fear he could be given a lighter sentence because of his age when he faces a judge next month.The 21-year-old, who was 16 in November 2019 when the attack took place at a Glasgow secondary school, could be spared jail under controversial sentencing guidelines for under 25s.

The case has echos of that of Sean Hogg, who was spared a prison term over offences which took place when he was 17, sparking a public outcry.Hogg, whose conviction for raping a 13-year-old was later quashed, was initially handed a community payback order of 270 hours of unpaid work under the sentencing guidelines.The family of the victim in the Hogg case have warned that Abbood could avoid jail under the same rules.One said: “Rape is rape, no matter the age and offenders should be punished appropriately.“Letting young offenders off with a slap in the wrist serves the victim no justice and acts in no way as a deterrent to others.“The justice system sees to be protecting these child abusers from prison but what about the life sentence the victim has to carry?“We were let down and if offenders under 25 continue to be handed lenient sentences there will be plenty more victims who are left struggling to come to terms with the harrowing ordeals they have endured.”The rape case took four years to get to Glasgow High Court and Abbood denied the charges against him.Jurors heard how Abbood and the teenage girl had initially been playing guitars in the music classroom.He tried to claim the girl instigated the sexual activity but prosecutors stated Abbood raped the