Nine escape jail terms despite guilty pleas for raping girl, 10

REVELATIONS that nine people who pleaded guilty to raping a 10-year-old girl had escaped prison sentences were met with outrage in Australia yesterday, prompting officials to launch a review of sexual assault cases in remote Aboriginal communities.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he was “horrified” by reports of the result of the trial of a group of juveniles and young men for the rape of the child in the settlement of Aurukun, northern Queensland, in 2005.

National media reported yesterday that district court judge Sarah Bradley placed six of the offenders — who were juveniles at the time of the rape — on 12-month probation and recorded no convictions against them, and handed down suspended six-month prison sentences for the three other offenders, aged 17, 18 and 26.