Lawyers for rapist Sean Hogg to battle it out with prosecutors in bid to get conviction quashed
Sean Hogg, now 22, was 17 when he attacked the 13-year-old schoolgirl and was sentenced to a community payback order with 270 hours of unpaid work.
Thursday 10 August 2023 14:22, UK
Lawyers for a man found guilty of rape are to battle it out with the Crown Office as they look to get his conviction for attacking a 13-year-old girl quashed.
Sean Hogg, 22, was earlier this year spared jail for raping the schoolgirl at Dalkeith Country Park in Midlothian on various occasions between March and June 2018.
He was 17 at the time of the attacks and was handed a community payback order with 270 hours of unpaid work.
Rape Crisis Scotland branded the sentence "worryingly lenient" amid a public outcry.
Scotland's Lord Advocate, Dorothy Bain KC, subsequently instructed the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) to appeal the sentence on the grounds it was "unduly lenient".
At the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh on Thursday, Lord Matthews fixed the hearing for 27 September.
The defence team intend to ask the court to quash Hogg's conviction during proceedings, arguing he was wrongfully convicted.
If the appeal against the conviction is unsuccessful, prosecutors will make submissions on why Hogg's sentence was "unduly lenient" in an effort to see him jailed.
As well as the community payback order, Hogg, of Hamilton in South Lanarkshire, was also added to the sex offenders' register and placed under supervision for three years after being found guilty by a jury at the High Court in Glasgow.
Judge Lord Lake said he had considered the guidelines for sentencing under-25s and concluded that imprisonment would not contribute to his rehabilitation.
Read more:
Sean Hogg and the guidelines for sentencing under-25s in Scotland
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Rapist condemned by judge for blaming female victims
New guidelines for sentencing under-25s came into effect in Scotland in January 2022.
The Scottish Sentencing Council recommended a more "individualistic approach" to take account of the perpetrator's life experiences.
The changes were made to help reduce reoffending by focusing on rehabilitation rather than punishment.
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Lord Lake said the offence would have attracted a four or five-year prison sentence had it been committed by someone over the age of 25.
But he added: "Prison does not lead me to believe this will contribute to your rehabilitation."
Despite being spared jail, Hogg was later brought back in front of Lord Lake for breaching his community payback order.
Defence counsel Donald Findlay KC said: "He can begin to try to build something or he can sit in prison. Given those two choices I can't understand why he would do anything other than apply himself to the first option."
Lord Lake admonished Hogg for the breach.