Arrested for Child Abuse (aka Child Molestation)

We would never suggest that you discuss anything other than confirming your name and address with the police. If they can twist your words to get a conviction, whether it was accurate or not, the resultant conviction and potential court case could be devastating to you and your family. Instead, simply ask for legal representation, they cannot continue to ask you questions until your representative is present.

 

Note in the eyes of the law a “child” is a person aged under 18. To understand this topic, we need to understand what the police definition is based upon, child molestation is a crime committed by an adult against a child where the adult touches the child’s body with “lewd and lascivious intent for sexual stimulation”. Consent is not considered as the child would have been too young to have given it, as such, it is not entertained as a defence.

 

Forms of child sexual abuse include

• Causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity (sections 8 and 10 of the Act), here a person commits an offence if they intentionally cause or encourage another person to engage in sexual activity involving penetration of an anus, vagina or mouth (can be either a body part/item)
• Sexual activity with a child (section 9 of the Act) - A person commits an offence if they touch someone, they perceive to be under 16 in a sexual way.
• Engaging in sex while being watched by a child (sections 11 and 12 of the Act) - Effectively letting a child watch you having sex.
• Arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence (section 14 of the Act) - Intentionally arranging something that he intends to do, intends another person to do, or believes that another person will do which is against the Act.
• Meeting a child following sexual grooming etc (section 15 of the Act) - Travelling to meet a child for sex

 

In total there are 142 sections of the Act and as such, there is insufficient space here to examine every one, if we are appointed you may rest assured that your caseworker will ensure that you have every element of defence covered.

 

Elements that could be used in your defence.

If the police get permission from the CPS to progress the matter to court, and you are found guilty then we would file mitigation factors to lessen the sentence, not all of these may be appropriate, or indeed entertained by the judge, however, we would be remiss to not use them.

• Sexual focus, we would argue that your mental attitude towards sex has been misaligned due to the ease of access to the sex of paedophilic interest which has changed your opinion towards viewing children as willing participants in sexual contact.
• Social Competence, research shows that child molesters who committed their first sexual offence in adolescence had histories that they were treated like impulsive or anti-social personalities, society showed a high level of juvenile anti-social behaviour.

 

We would consider a wide variety of other factors: Co-occurrence of other types of abuse; Mal-treatment and care-giver inconstancy to child – victims; Age at the onset of abuse; Duration of abuse; Is the child related to the perpetrator; Violence of abuse or harassment; Poor social skills and easy to exploit; the child’s awareness (and potential willingness or even encouragement) etc.

 

What to do if arrested

If you are arrested then you should not feel compelled to help the police obtain a nice quick conviction. In such situations, you have a right to inform someone of your arrest. More importantly, you have a right to access free independent legal services when you request them. If this is ever in doubt, inform the police officer that you are allowed help under Section 58(1) of the Police and Crime Evidence Act 1984. Moreover, if you are eventually interviewed in the absence of legal services, you should remember that you neither have to answer the question posed to you nor can you be compelled to do so. You can simply choose to stay silent.

 

It is worth noting that once you request legal representation, you cannot be interviewed until you have access to suitable representation. Also, if you are already being interviewed after indicating that you did not require legal advice, once you request for it, even during the interview, the police will have to postpone the interview until you have been given the advice.

 

Whilst in custody you have certain rights:

• To get legal advice;
• To tell someone where you are;
• To get medical help, and to see a copy of the rules the Police must follow (Codes of Practice).

 

After being arrested we would strongly advise you to simply confirm your details and not rise to any of their quips or questions which are designed to solicit an admission of guilt, hence making their quest for a conviction a lot easier, instead simply state that you will not answer any questions until you have received legal guidance. Remember, simply saying “sorry” is classed as an admission of guilt, if you give an investigating officer the slightest chance, they will exploit it to the maximum.

 

If you cannot afford legal representation, you will be offered free and independent legal advice, however, you should not assume that the duty solicitor appointed for you will keep your details private, after all, they have the same paymaster and the solicitor will be extremely familiar (and thereby friendly) with the police officers and not want to cause them any inconvenience. In our opinion, this creates a dangerous situation as regards legal confidentiality. Our representatives are totally independent and would not disclose any part of your conversation with them to the police. If you are seeking alternative legal help, we strongly suggest you use a private solicitor and do not rely on the duty solicitor for reasons already stated.

 

How we can help

We would suggest that you inform the police that you would like professional representation at the very earliest convenience, getting representation after you have already given (or been tricked into) a confession (or terms that may be interpreted as such) causes a multitude of problems. To gain our assistance you need to open a case, this is done by taking advantage of our free consultation service, activated by the link at the top of the page, should you wish to start a case the caseworker will send you the suitable payment link.

 

Your caseworker would immediately assign someone to meet with you as soon as possible. Because we are internet-based, we may not have our own actual solicitor in your area and may have to use a local one who is expertly qualified in his field. Their costs for attending may be more than our standard charge, if this is the case then your caseworker will discuss this with you. The solicitor will guide you through all aspects of the arrest and would not carry the same risks to you as using a duty solicitor.

 

Please note your caseworker can only give generic advice, their role is to prepare your details for handling by our legal team and to act as your point of contact, they will also issue you with your Password and PIN, these will be needed to log onto your client dashboard. From your dashboard