JK Rowling has slammed the decision to free the child rapist who assaulted the 13-year-old girl

JK Rowling has criticized a decision to let a man who assaulted a 13-year-old girl walk free in court.

Sean Hogg, 21, pounced on the girl on separate occasions between March and June 2018 at Dalkeith Country Park, Midlothian.

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He was found guilty by a jury and appeared in the dock of the High Court in Glasgow.

But Judge Lord Lake sentenced him to just 270 hours of unpaid work, placed him under supervision and put him on the sex offenders’ register for three years.

JK Rowling has now publicly criticized the decision after sharing our article on Twitter.

The Harry Potter author tweeted: “Progressive Scotland 2023.

“Where a young man gets no jail time for raping a 13-year-old girl in a park.

“Young Scottish men are effectively being told ‘first time is free’.

Court records state that Hogg committed an assault by threatening his young victim and pulling down her underwear.

Hogg, from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, then grabbed her wrists and caused the girl to perform a sexual act on him.

He proceeded to press his victim’s head down and rape her.

Judge Lake said he “does not think it appropriate” to send the fiend to prison and opted for the non-custodial sentence.

Rape Crisis Scotland’s Sandy Brindley called the verdict “worryingly lenient”.

The SNP government issued new sentencing guidelines last year, urging a focus on rehabilitation rather than punishment for criminals under the age of 25.

Ms Rowling has been outspoken on women’s rights since joining the trans rights ranks in 2019.

She recently said she would accept being a fanatic if that was defined as someone who advocates for women’s rights.

She said: “When you say indirect bigotry raises questions where you believe significant harm is being done, when you say indirect bigotry stands for women’s rights, then you know what, guilty as accused.”

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