Steve wrote:

Ahem.

"A 34-year-old Italian man who had sex with a 13-year-old girl has had
his sentence cut by a two-thirds because a court decided there was
"real love" between the pair.

Antonio de Pascale, a butcher from Vicenza, admitted that he had a
four-month long relationship with the girl, who sent him a stream of
torrid text messages on his mobile phone.

His lawyers argued, however, that there was a "deep tenderness"
between him and the girl and that he had "fallen head over heels in
love" after a sexual encounter in his car. They said the girl had
consented to every action.
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The court in Vicenza accepted their opinion and sentenced de Pascale
to only one year and four months in jail out of a possible 12-year
term.

Because of a general amnesty for anyone who receives a sentence of
less than three years, de Pascale is unlikely to serve any prison time
for his Lolita-esque romance.

Antonio Marziale, the president of the Association for the Protection
of the Rights of Minors, said the decision was "execrable".

He said: "It is not right to judge whether or not a 13-year-old girl
is willing. The law should safeguard young girls who are too immature
to make these decisions against adults without scruples."

However, Simonetta Matone, a judge in Rome, said the law must "always
look to be reasonable in these cases".

She added: "Every relationship is a relationship and the real
maturity, whether physical or psychological, of the minor must be
weighed, with the help of experts."

The court decision has unleashed a wave of condemnation in Italy, and
even authors of teen novels stepped forward to caution their readers
against early sexual encounters.

Federico Moccia, the author of Excuse Me But I Love You, said: "This
seems a very strange situation to me. Obviously in a relationship
between a child and an adult, the adult has to stop himself. A girl
has to be able to value the situation, and a girl this young is
certainly not capable. My appeal to 13-year-olds is to wait for your
time."



uh...straw woman...g remember, principled decision-making. one
idiot doesn't establish an axiom.

jeff