Sex Offender Jailed for allowing abuse
17th April 2009
Sky News reports that a convicted paedophile has been jailed for doing nothing to stop his ex partner’s abuse of her baby.
Section 5 of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 creates a new offence of failing to protect a child or vulnerable adult. A person is guilty of an offence if a child or vulnerable adult dies as a result of the unlawful act of a person who was a member of the same household and had frequent contact with him. There has to be a significant risk of serious physical harm being caused to the child or vulnerable adult, and either the Defendant is the person who caused the child/vulnerable adult’s death or the Defendant was or ought to have been aware of the risk, failed to take reasonable protective steps and the act occurred in circumstances that the Defendant ought to have foreseen.
