“It could be consensual sex and therefore why would you charge him with rape?”
No it could not. As has been explained, a child of eleven is not capable of legally consenting to sexual intercourse. The Sexual Offences Act 2003 makes a clear distinction between rape (or other sexual assault) of a child under 13 and a person aged 14 or 15. Section 5 of the Act clearly states that penetrative sex with a 13 year old is rape. The question of consent – even if it could be shown to have been given - is not a consideration.
“Can one minor be charged with the Statutory rape of another minor in this country?”
First of all there is no such thing in the UK as “Statutory Rape”. Rape hinges around consent. If consent is not present either because the victim did not grant it or because (s)he was incapable in law of doing so then rape can be charged. Where the victim is 14-15 the situation is slightly more complex (involving the belief the accused held about the victim’s age) than the simple paragraph above concerning under 13s, but it need not concern us here. There’s lots of CPS guidance on sexual activity between those under 16 and we have far too few details to determine which is applicable. However here’s a snippet or two from the CPS guidance which covers sexual offences against children:
“If the sexual act or activity was in fact genuinely consensual (even though this provides no defence) and the youth and the child under 13 concerned are fairly close in age and development, a prosecution is unlikely to be appropriate.”
“It should be noted that where both parties to sexual activity are under 16, then they may both have committed a criminal offence. However, the overriding purpose of the legislation is to protect children and it was not Parliaments intention to punish children unnecessarily or for the criminal law to intervene where it was wholly in appropriate.”
“Mikey you are judging the father!!”
Of course Mikey is judging the father. Why shouldn’t he be judged in a discussion like this? With a pregnant eleven year old there is no doubt that a grave criminal offence has been committed. As I have pointed out above, there may be some leeway within the CPS guidance which says that a criminal prosecution might not be pursued. But that does not alter the fact that a serious criminal offence has occurred and judgement is perfectly acceptable.