A BOY of 15 has been sentenced after he sexually assaulted his five-year-old stepsister.
The youth, who cannot be named, was found on top of the girl on a bunk bed by her mother at an address in Nottingham.
The door to the room where the incident happened was unusually closed, Nottingham Crown Court heard.
The boy and the girl were taken downstairs and police contacted.
He was arrested and the child was interviewed about what had happened to her. She said her trousers were pulled down and the teenager had lain on top of her.
Nothing was found medically wrong when she was examined.
He had claimed he had fallen on top of her and that what happened was innocent.
However, at court, he pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting the girl last May.
Judge Michael Stokes QC, who sentenced him, said he did not accept the teenager's explanation and branded what he had done as "deliberate".
The judge said: "Part of growing up, particularly of boys of your age, is knowing how to behave and how not to behave toward the opposite sex and, what you did is a clear example of how not to behave.
"Behaving like that toward a little girl can have severe psychological consequences."
The defendant, who sat at the back of court in a white shirt and black trousers with a woman, stood up as the judge addressed him.
The judge told him what he had done to the girl, whose mother was sat in court, was completely wrong and he replied meekly "yes".
The girl became withdrawn after what had happened and knew that the boy, who is now 15, had done something naughty and had had nightmares, the court heard.
The youth had no previous convictions but a reprimand for a different matter.
He is now subject to a youth rehabilitation order for 18 months and will be supervised by the Youth Offending Team.
He does not have to sign the sex offenders' register as he was not sent to prison.
