The shadow home secretary has branded a seven-year jail term for an Iranian who raped a 13-year-old schoolgirl in an alleyway a ‘disgrace.’
The judge who sentenced Sorosh Amini, 21, said he did not consider the rapist to be a ‘dangerous person.’
And he concluded that the terrified victim did not suffer ‘severe’ psychological harm.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp, who was also policing minister under the previous Government, told the Sun: ‘Amini violently attacked a 13-year old girl in broad daylight in Croydon town centre.
‘For the judge to give a lower sentence because she “allegedly didn’t suffer severe trauma as a result” is a disgrace.’
Amini approached the girl outside the Whitgift shopping centre in Croydon, south London, on August 4 last year, following her and repeatedly trying to engage her in conversation.
He tried to make her smoke cannabis with him, told her his friend had recently stabbed someone in the area, put his arm round her then led her down an alleyway.
The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she thought he may have been carrying a knife, adding: ‘He had his hand on my face.
‘He held me and his grip was really, really strong and I couldn’t get away.
‘But he held me from my back and my waist and he held me there. And so, obviously, I couldn’t even stop it.’
Amini then forced the girl to kiss him before raping her in the alleyway.
He was convicted of rape and sexual assault at Croydon Crown Court in June.
The Scotland Yard officer who led the investigation, detective inspector Donnett Oseni, described Amini as a ‘dangerous sexual offender.’
‘Amini’s attack on this vulnerable girl was predatory and calculated,’ she said.
‘He has demonstrated himself to be a dangerous sexual offender and this sentence prevents him from harming anyone else.’
But the judge who sentenced him, Judge Antony Hyams-Parish, disagreed.
In his sentencing remarks, he said: ‘I have considered whether you are a dangerous person which would allow me to pass an extended sentence.
‘However, I do not think there is sufficient evidence before me to be satisfied that you meet the criteria to be considered a dangerous person.’
Judge Hyams-Parish also said that though there was no doubt that Amini’s attack caused some psychological harm to the victim, it fell short of ‘severe psychological harm.’
This did not affect the categorisation of his offending, the judge added.
The judge handed down a seven-year sentence for the rape, and one year for the sexual assault, to run concurrently.
Amini will serve at least two-thirds of the sentence before being released on licence.
