Teen gang rape highlights amoral outlook

Two teenage boys have been remanded in custody after testifying to an investigating magistrate in Athens on Tuesday, in connection with the alleged gang rape of a 15-year-old fellow schoolboy in the suburb of Ilion.

The decision brings the number of suspects remanded in custody to five following the arrest of six youngsters last week in the wake of allegations that they had raped the 15-year-old repeatedly over the course of at least a month and recorded the abuse on video, sharing the footage with other pupils at the same school.

One of the six suspects – all males – has been released from custody because he is under the age of 15. 

Police are also reportedly questioning four girls – also aged 14 to 15 years old – who allegedly witnessed the abuse. 

Referring to the case, experts have sounded the alarm, noting the lack of understanding of right and wrong, no interest in any sanctions and no concern for the impact of their actions on the victim. 

“From what we know so far about this crime, we are talking about the normalization of heinous acts,” says criminologist Elena Syrmali. 

“We are talking about a lack of perception of right and wrong. Of no interest in any sanctions. Of no understanding of the impact on the victim by children, and at a time when we have talked so many times about the trauma of victims of sexual abuse, at a time when so much is written about rape, when there are campaigns about it all. We are talking about a distorted view of relationships, of what is serious and what is not. A distorted perception of our own boundaries in relation to each other. We’re talking mostly about normalizing cruelty,” she added. 

Sexual abuse, she says, is not about sex, but about imposition, about exerting power over the weak.

According to child psychologist Antigoni Ginopoulou, the power dimension is also highlighted by the fact that they were filming their act showing off about it at school. “This shows that they believed they could do whatever they wanted without repercussions,” she says. “But it was this sense of invincibility that betrayed them. The video was seen by so many people that at some point the crime was revealed,” Ginopoulou added.