R v Suleymaan Ar'raa-ee

Facts

The applicant, Suleymaan Ar'raa-ee, was 17 at the time of the offending. The victim was 13. On 16 December 2018 she left home at 11.30 pm to meet him at a public house; they kissed at the back of the pub before walking into a wooded area, where she performed oral sex on him and they had vaginal intercourse. No condom was used and the victim believed he had ejaculated inside her. She told her mother on returning home, her mother telephoned the police, and the applicant was arrested. On 4 January 2021 in the Crown Court at Teesside, before His Honour Judge Carroll, he pleaded guilty on re-arraignment to two counts of sexual activity with a child (Counts 2 and 3); on 3 March 2021 the prosecution offered no evidence on Count 1 and a not guilty verdict was entered. Miss Recorder Turner imposed concurrent 36-month community orders with a 30-day rehabilitation activity requirement on each count, and decided that he should be subject to notification requirements under Part 2 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 for five years, observing that any error could be corrected administratively. Certificates were drawn up under section 92 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 on both dates. A Cleveland police officer noticed the error and contacted the Crown Court, and the matter was referred to the Full Court by the Registrar.