On Monday, a man from Afghanistan stood before the St Gallen District Court. The charge was sexual acts with a child – the man had sexual intercourse with a then 13-year-old girl in autumn 2019. The two met on Tiktok and had chatted on various social media channels before going on a date. On the first date, there was consensual sexual intercourse between the 13-year-old and the young man, who was of full age already, according to the indictment. The 13-year-old had bought extra condoms for the meeting.
The prosecution demanded a conditional prison sentence of nine months and a fine of 300 francs for the Afghan. In addition, he was to be expelled from the country for five years and banned from working with minors in the professional and non-professional sector.
The single judge at the St. Gallen District Court came to a different conclusion, as the newspaper “Tagblatt” reported on Tuesday. He accepted the argumentation of the man’s defence. The age of the Afghan, who came to Switzerland as a refugee in 2015, was the subject of discussion in court. Since he entered the country without a passport, the authorities determined his birthday to be January 1, 1997, which, according to the Afghan, was not correct. He was born in 2000, which is why he was only 19 and not 22 at the time of the crime, the defence argued. Thus, the sexual intercourse would be covered by the so-called ” childhood love” rule. This means that defendants who were not yet 20 years old at the time of the crime can be exempted from a sentence.For the judge, there were sufficient indications that the man was indeed not yet 20 years old at the time. The Afghan was acquitted and thus a deportation order and a ban on activities were waived. The accused was said to have testified very honestly during the interrogation. Even if it had not been the supposed great love between the two, a childhood love had become obvious between the two, according to the “Tagblatt” on the justification of the verdict.
https://www.20min.ch/story/richter-entscheidet-auf-jugendliebe-freispruch-839603854107