Perth boy who raped his neighbour walks free

A teenage boy who groomed his nine-year-old neighbour for months before violently raping him will not serve any time in jail.

The 14-year-old from Perth was sentenced to a 12-month suspended imprisonment term and 60 days of community service on Wednesday in the Children’s Court of WA, according to The West Australian.

The boy, who 13 at the time of the attacks, was convicted last month of two charges of sexual penetration of a child under 13 and one count of indecent dealings.

Prosecutors told the court the teenager had befriended the nine-year-old in Perth’s northern suburbs and won the trust of his parents.

The pair were said to have played together nearly every day before the teen raped the boy and threatened to kill him if he told anyone, according to the West Australian.

Prosecutors told presiding Magistrate Stephen Vose the teen had ‘premeditated’ the ‘violent’ attack.

The second rape occurred after the nine-year-old was lured into bushes near his house.

Prosecutors told the court the teenager had befriended the nine-year-old and won the trust of his parents. They played together nearly every day before the teen raped the boy and threatened to kill him if he told anyone (stock image)

The court was told the young boy had been ‘violated in the most abhorrent way’, according to the West Australian.

Despite prosecutors called for a jail sentence, Judge Vose said he chose to impose a suspended sentence because the teen’s age and uneasy childhood.

He will be placed on the state’s sex offender registry for seven-and-a-half years and is prohibited from being within 100metres of his victim.