French court rules firefighters' sex with teen wasn't rape
PARIS (AP) — A top French court ruled Wednesday against upgrading the charges against three firefighters accused of having sex with a teenage girl from sexual assault to rape, the latest decision in a case that helped fuel efforts to set a legal age of sexual consent in France.
The victim has accused the firefighters of repeatedly raping her more than a decade ago, when she was between 13 and 15-years-old. The accused men have acknowledged they had sex with her, but insist the activity was consensual.
The woman and her mother appealed a lower court ruling that downgraded the charges from rape to sexual assault, which carries a shorter maximum prison sentence. Their lawyers argued that the French justice system doesn’t do enough to protect children from sexual violence by adults.