JK Rowling slams court decision to spare a Scottish child rapist free from jail

JK Rowling has recently condemned the decision to let a child rapist free from jail for the first time as he is under 25.

On April 3, Sean Hogg, who is now 21, was sentenced to 270 hours of community service for raping a 13-year-old girl in a park when he was 17, reported via Independent.

After Hogg was found guilty by a jury at the High Court in Glasgow, Judge Lord Lake remarked that he had to take “Hogg’s age” into consideration.

“This offence, if committed by an adult over 25, [would] attract a sentence of four or five years,” stated the judge during sentencing.

The judge further said, “I don’t consider that appropriate and don’t intend to send you to prison. You are a first offender with no previous history of prison: you are 21 and were 17 at the time. Prison does not lead me to believe this will contribute to your rehabilitation.”

It is reported that Hogg was also put on the sex offenders’ register for three years.

Sharing her reaction to the news, Rowling took to Twitter and wrote, “Progressive Scotland 2023, where a man gets no jail time for raping a 13-year-old girl in a park.”

“Young Scottish men are effectively being told ‘first time’s free,’” commented the Harry Potter’s author.

Meanwhile, Rowling also reflected on her experience of domestic abuse in the first episode of a new podcast, The Witch Trials of JK Rowling.

Rowling alleged that her marriage to ex-husband Jorge Arantes became “very violent and very controlling”.