A 19-year-old man has been arrested in west Belfast after getting a 12-year-old girl pregnant.
Police confirmed that the teenager had been arrested on Thursday in relation to an alleged sexual offence and has been released on bail, pending further inquiries.
He faces being charged with rape if he is found to have had sex with the girl, who is from the Lenadoon area of West Belfast, and could be handed a life sentence upon conviction.
A PSNI spokesman told The Belfast Telegraph: “Police arrested a 19-year-old man in the West Belfast area on Thursday 1st October in relation to a sexual offence. The man has been released on police bail pending further enquiries.”
The man was arrested after police were informed of the girl's pregnancy.
Lenadoon estate was an area of significant sectarian conflict. The IRA ceasefire of 1972 ended there when the British army blocked Republicans from moving Catholics into the lower end of the estate.
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