Austrian courts now side with rapists over rape victims. The court's rationale for overturning the sentence is ridiculous.  Prosecutors did not prove the 20-year-old rapist understood the 10-year-old boy screamed "No!"

I suppose the boy's screams of agony weren't a clue.  In the rapist's mind  screams of agony mean "More please!" not "Stop!"

The original trial judge sentenced the pedophile identified only as Amir A. to six years in prison.

The rapist claimed his four month lack of sex turned into a 'sexual emergency.' Immediate sexual intercourse was the only solution.

Amir dragged the boy from the Theresienbad pool in Vienna into the changeroom, locked the door, then raped the boy.  His sexual emergency over, he returned to the pool and played on the diving board until police arrested him.  Such callous disregard for another human being is pathological.  It is the sign of a serial sexual predator, not of a man who does not comprehend "No."

Amir violently penetrated the boy, causing severe anal and internal injuries. The child required immediate medical treatment at a local children's hospital to repair the damage.

Amir confessed to the rape. Amir admitted he knew it was wrong.

The Austrian Supreme Court overturned his conviction anyway.

According to the Supreme Court, the first court should have ascertained whether the offender had thought that the victim agreed to the sexual act and whether Amir A. had the intention to act against the will of the boy.

The Austrian Supreme Court's willingness to ignore the rape victim and pander to every whim of the rapist makes me wonder about their sexual partners.  How old are they?  And how loud do they scream?

There is a bright side to the story, thankfully.  The Iraqi-born rapist won his appeal but his new trial did not end the way he expected.

His original sentence of 6 years increased to 7.  His original fine for damages, paid to the child's family,  increased from €4,700 to €5,000.

Thank God the trial judge had some common sense.  The sad note is, of course, this traumatized child will never be the same.  He suffers from post-traumatic stress.  He requires medication to sleep.  He is terrified all the time and cannot bear to be alone.

A sexual predator destroyed this child's life in minutes for his own sexual gratification and showed no remorse.  He returned to the pool and played on the diving board.  Seven years in prison seems a slap on the wrist when the young victim suffers for the rest of his life.

Is it wrong to pray for Austrian prison inmates who despise sexual predators of children?