Emboldened by the outcome of a similar case, a British pedophile has ‘identified as trans,’ resulting in a suspended sentence —rather than prison—for child pornography.
A court in Southampton was told that Dominic Carter, a biological male who was being sentenced for possession of child pornography, is now a woman and should be known as “Sophie Carter,” The Telegraph reported on Thursday, August 31.
Carter, who attacked the arresting police officers as they tried to seize his cellphones—which contained 11 unlawful images, including two Category A, the most severe kind—appeared before the court wearing a pink T-shirt, pink shorts, and pink nail polish.
Despite being a repeat offender with five previous convictions for six past offenses, Carter’s lawyer asked for a suspended jail sentence because of the defendant’s childhood traumas, long-standing alcohol abuse, and mental health issues.
Carter eventually pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children in 2021, in exchange for six months in prison—suspended for 18 months—as well as 60 hours of rehabilitation and 120 hours of unpaid work. Additionally, the defendant will be registered as a sex offender for five years.
No man’s land
The significance of this case (apart from the outrageously lenient punishment) is that it appears to be part of a trend set by a similar sentence given recently in the UK.
In July this year, 66-year-old biological man, described as transgender, Tanya Howes (a former prison worker, ironically) was also spared from going to jail by a 12-month suspended sentence, despite admitting to the possession of 39 Category A child pornographic images.
In the case of Howes, the reason for the light sentence was explicitly stated: the authorities were unable to decide whether the offender should be sent to a male or female prison. Under “normal” circumstances, the chair of the magistrates told Howes, these offenses would “attract immediate custody.”
The underlying problem stems from the fact that the UK passed a ban on incarcerating sexual offenders with male genitalia together with female inmates earlier this year, with exemptions only made in “most exceptional” cases and requiring ministerial approval.
So while this law saves female prisoners from being raped by biological men, it does not help judges decide where to send trans offenders instead, so ‘nowhere’ remains the safest option for one’s career.
It’s not hard to imagine that Carter, emboldened by Howes’ apparent success less than two months prior, suddenly decided to ‘come out’ as a woman. But whereas Howes was, at least, identifying as trans at the time of the crime, Carter realized his ‘true self’ only after the arrest, making the motive painfully obvious.
“The arguments put forward by these men, that they really are women, is deeply offensive to actual women,” Julie Bindel, a leading feminist writer reacted in her op-ed. As Bindel explained:
Women have had enough. Fewer people are now being duped into believing that so-called transwomen are different from natal males. It seems probable that some men facing trial go down the transition route in order to be treated more leniently in court, or to access potential victims in single sex spaces.
Men that perpetrate acts of sexual violence and abuse must never be allowed to hide behind a gender-identity smokescreen.
Using a transgender identity in court as a mitigation in sex crime cases is the very opposite of what should happen. There should be an assumption that any man charged with sex offenses who subsequently self-identifies as a woman should be questioned about his ulterior motives.
