A 22-year-old man avoided jail on Monday after being convicted of sexual activity with a 15-year-old girl in New Malden.
William Rafe, a carpenter from St Ann’s Hill in Wandsworth, was given a suspended sentence by Judge Binnings, who told him he had only avoided a prison sentence by pleading guilty.
The court heard how, on June 10 last year, the victim, who was 15 at the time and cannot be named for legal reasons, was visiting a female friend in New Malden.
When Rafe arrived, the group began drinking and Rafe asked the victim to sit on his lap on the sofa. The two began to kiss and sexual touching took place.
The following morning, a complaint was made to the police and Rafe, who has an eight-year-old daughter, was arrested, despite the victim’s claims the sexual activity had been entirely consensual.
Sitting at Kingston Crown Court on Monday, Judge Binnings told Rafe: “Because of the age difference between you and the girl, this is a serious matter.
“But you have pleaded guilty, and because the girl was only six months away from being able to legally give her consent, I am going to give you a sentence of 16 weeks, suspended for two years.”
Rafe was also ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register, given 70 hours unpaid community work and an 18-month supervision order.
In October last year, Rafe was also convicted of threatening to kill his ex-girlfriend Leigh O’Kelly and sentenced to six months in prison.
According to prosecutor Paula O’Toole, Rafe had been out drinking in May before going to Miss O’Kelly’s house in New Malden, where she was having dinner with a male friend.
After arguing with the two, Rafe left but returned a while later with some friends, one of whom had a gun.
Rafe began shouting at Miss O’Kelly, “Watch what happens, you’re dead”, before kicking through her front door and pushing her against a wall.
Rafe was convicted in January last year of using violence to enter a house, when he kicked down Miss O’Kelly’s front door and smashed her bedroom window.
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