The 16-year-old boy has been given a nine-year extended sentence after he followed the married mother along the street as she walked from a pub in Cardiff and raped her
A 16-year-old boy has been locked up after he raped a woman as she walked home from a pub along a major city road.
The teenager followed the married mother along the street before overtaking her and then lay in wait for her by a grass verge in order to attack her. The boy – who cannot be named due to his age – later claimed the woman had “smiled” at him and that the pair had kissed and had sex in a ditch next to the main road in Cardiff.
James Hartson, prosecuting, told Cardiff Crown Court that the victim of the attack, a married mum, had spent a night in June this year at a pub in Cardiff with family and friends before walking home. He said the woman was “obviously intoxicated” and was unsteady on her feet.
The court heard that as the woman walked along the busy North Road which runs to and from Cardiff city centre, she passed the defendant who was walking in the opposite direction. After they passed, the teenager stopped, turned around, and began to follow her, reports Wales Online.
Mr Hartson, prosecuting, said: “After they passed each other, the defendant changed direction and began to walk behind the victim, now in the same direction as her. It is the prosecution’s case that having identified her as an intoxicated and vulnerable lone female, this is probably the moment when he decided that he would rape her and therefore began to follow her.”
The court heard the teenager overtook the woman then stopped near a grass verge at the side of the road, a location which Mr Hartson said the defendant had identified as the place to commit the offence. He said the woman’s memory of what happened next was affected by her level of her intoxication, but he said she could remember being approached from the side by the defendant and could remember him putting his arm around her – she initially believed the stranger was going to help her. The court heard her next memory is of being on her back on the ground with the defendant on top of her raping her, and of her telling him to stop and trying to push him off. After the rape, the teenager ran off and the woman got unsteadily to her feet and made her way home.
The prosecutor said the assault was reported to police that night and a “massive” investigation involving dozens of officers and support staff was launched. As part of that investigation a trawl of CCTV footage was conducted and the defendant was identified and arrested at home the following day. In his interview the teenager accepted meeting the woman on the street, but claimed she had smiled at him and that the pair kissed and had sex.
In an impact statement read to the court by the prosecutor, the woman said her life had been “changed forever” by the attack, and said she feels “desperately sad” that she has “lost a part of who I was”. She said she used to be a trusting and confident person who enjoyed the company of friends and family but now just wants to be on her own, and she said she “doesn’t recognise herself”. The woman said she was receiving counselling and was still in the early stages of coming to terms with what happened – she said she had no idea about the long-term affects of the assault and rape and it “fills her with dread” that her life will never be the same again.
William Bebb, for the defendant, said his client’s background was “not the normal one” with “alarming levels of neglect and exploitation” and he said a report before the court showed he had been exposed to pornography from a very young age. The barrister said the defendant would receive intensive “multi-agency support” while in custody, something he had previously not had.
The court head the teenager was charged with assault by penetration and rape, and pleaded not guilty. He was convicted of both offences following a trial before district judge Steve Harmes at Cardiff Youth Court. The case was committed to the crown court for sentencing given the serious nature of the offending.
The teenager, who was has no previous convictions, was made the subject of a nine-year extended sentence including five years detention followed by a four-year licence period. They must serve two-thirds of the custodial element of the sentence before the Parole Board will consider if he is safe to be released or not. He will be a registered sex offender for the rest of his life.