A child abuser who attacked two Asian girls was rightly given a harsher sentence than if his victims had been white – because it will now be harder for their parents to arrange marriages for them, a top judge has ruled.
Mr Justice Walker said it was proper for Jamal Muhammad Raheem Ul Nasir to have been given a harsher sentence as Asian sex crime victims suffer more than whites.
The Huddersfield Daily Examiner says that Ul Nasir was jailed for seven years at Leeds Crown Court in December last year for attacking two underage girls. He was found guilty on two counts of sexual assault on a child under 13 and four counts sexual activity with a child.
Sally Cahill QC, the judge who jailed him, said the fact his victims were Asian was an “aggravating factor” when passing sentencing. Their families had experienced “shame” in their community due to what happened, she said, and there were concerns it would be harder to arrange good marriages for the girls when they were older.
Ul Nasir’s lawyers appealed the sentence at London’s Criminal Appeals Court, arguing it was unfair to make such a distinction. However, Mr Justice Walker rejected their complaints, saying: “The victims’ fathers were concerned about the future marriage prospects for their daughters.
“Judge Cahill was having particular regard to the harm caused to the victims by this offending.
“That harm was aggravated by the impact on the victims and their families within this particular community”.
UKIP MEP Jane Collins said, “This ruling is essentially telling sex attackers to make sure their victims are white because they’ll get a softer sentence if caught. So what the legal system has done is make the world a more dangerous place for young white girls.”
A spokesman for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) said after the case: “British justice should operate on a level playing field and children need to be protected irrespective of cultural differences.
“Regardless of race, religion, or gender, every child deserves the right to be safe and protected from sexual abuse, and the courts must reflect this. It is vital that those who commit these hideous crimes are punished to the full limit of the law.”
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