Morocco Convicts Five Britons Over Enticement of Minor in Leon Baptiste Assault Case

Marrakech – Three more British former athletes and two of their acquaintances have been convicted in Morocco in connection with the sexual assault of a minor by a British sprinting coach, according to court rulings seen by BBC Sport.

The convictions widen a case that began with Leon Baptiste, a UK Athletics coach and 2010 Commonwealth Games 200m gold medalist, who is now serving a prison sentence at Marrakech’s Al-Oudaya prison for assaulting a 16-year-old girl.

The five newly convicted were on holiday with Baptiste when the events took place. They are two-time Commonwealth silver medalist hurdler Will Sharman, his brother and former bobsleigh athlete Richard Sharman, ex-bobsleigh competitor Lamin Deen, and acquaintances Ashley O’Leary Jones and David Tuck.

Court records show that in June the five received suspended sentences of four months and fines of MAD 500 ($50) each after being convicted of participating in the enticement of a minor. All five were acquitted of a separate charge of inciting a minor to engage in prostitution. Their convictions were upheld after an appeal hearing in July.

Morocco’s Office of the Public Prosecutor, which oversees prosecutions, provided BBC Sport with the court judgment, according to the broadcaster. It records that the defendants “were in the company of [Baptiste] and were seated at the same table as the minor, alongside her.”

According to the ruling, “they thereby assisted him in deceiving the minor and persuading her to engage in sexual relations,” conduct the court classified as participation in the enticement of a minor.

The men had already left Morocco by the time the decision was handed down. Through their lawyers, they told BBC Sport that they were never arrested and learned of their convictions only when informed by the broadcaster.

A spokesperson for all five described them as “shocked and distressed by the circumstances in which they have unexpectedly found themselves.”

The group rejects “any suggestion that they knowingly engaged in unlawful or improper conduct,” and maintains it left Morocco believing it had complied with all requirements. The spokesperson added that the men understood they had paid a minor administrative fine and that “the matter had concluded.”

The men added that they visited the Montecristo nightclub on a driver’s recommendation, unaware the girl was a minor, with some of them unable to recall seeing her at all. They also noted the court process was not conducted in English and was never explained to them.

Baptiste was convicted of sexual assault of a minor and sentenced to 10 months, later reduced to eight on appeal. Court documents describe the girl, a Moroccan national, as suffering “psychological trauma, sexual exploitation, physical assault and injury, and the violation of her human dignity.” She was awarded civil compensation of MAD 60,000 ($6,000), payable jointly by all those convicted.

Others convicted include the villa’s housekeeper and two security guards, each given a two-month suspended sentence and a MAD 5,000 ($500) fine. The manager of the Montecristo, which authorities closed during the investigation, received a two-month jail term.

Sexual assaults on children ‘are not ordinary offenses’

On August 22, the Moroccan NGO Touche Pas À Mon Enfant (Don’t Touch My Child) criticized the sentence handed to Baptiste.

While affirming its full respect for judicial independence and the rulings of the competent courts, the group could not hide its “astonishment and deep concern regarding a sentence of such duration in a case involving the sexual assault of a minor,” particularly after the reduction on appeal.

The NGO stressed that the victim is a child, and that sexual assaults on children “are not ordinary offenses” but acts that can leave “profound and lasting physical and psychological” after-effects.

On that basis, it questioned the precise legal classification of the acts and the circumstances that led to the sentence and its reduction, noting that the information released so far specifies neither the age nor the sex of the victim, nor the exact nature of the acts behind the prosecution.

The organization tied the case to a broader demand for deterrence. Child protection, it argued, requires a judicial system that guarantees both protection and dissuasion, and that places the best interest of the child and the rights of the victim at the center of such cases.

It renewed its call for maximum firmness against sexual offenses committed against minors, “regardless of the nationality” of the perpetrator, and warned that Morocco must never become a space where anyone might believe that a sexual assault against a child could be met with insufficiently deterrent penalties.

The statement, signed by Najat Anwar, closed on a single line: “Our children are a red line. Their protection is a collective responsibility that tolerates no complacency.”

Read also: What Leon Baptiste’s Reduced Sentence Says About Child Safety in Morocco