Teen jailed for rape of woman on busy city road

A 16-year-old raped a woman as she walked home along the busy North Road in Cardiff

A 16-year-old boy has been jailed for raping a woman as she walked home alone along a busy city road.

The teen, who cannot be named due to his age, attacked the woman on Cardiff's North Road on an evening in June, after she left a pub she was at with family and friends.

Cardiff Crown Court heard that he had followed the woman, having identified her as "intoxicated and vulnerable", and decided to rape her.

He will serve five years in prison followed by a four-year licence period and will be a registered sex offender for the rest of his life.

James Hartson, prosecuting, told the court that the victim of the attack - a married mother - was "obviously intoxicated" and was unsteady on her feet at the time of the attack.

The court heard that, as the woman walked along the busy North Road which runs to and from the city centre, she passed the teenager who was walking in the opposite direction.

"After they passed each other, the defendant changed direction and began to walk behind the victim, now in the same direction as her," said Mr Hartson.

“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, whose memory of events is affected due to her level of her intoxication, said she could remember being approached and the boy putting his arm around her.

She said 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.

She said she tried telling him to stop and attempted to push him off.

After the attack, the teenager ran off and the woman got unsteadily to her feet and made her way home.

Victim 'doesn't recognise herself'

Following a police report later that night, South Wales Police arrested the boy at home the following the day after reviewing CCTV footage of the area.

In his interview the teenager accepted meeting the woman on the street and claimed she had smiled at him and that the pair has kissed and had sex.

In an impact statement which was read to the court by the prosecutor, the woman said her life had been "changed forever" by what happened, 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 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".

He said a report before the court showed he had been exposed to pornography from a very young age.

'Considerable anger' toward victim

The boy pleaded not guilty to assault by penetration and rape and was convicted of both offences following a trial at Cardiff Youth Court.

The case was committed to the crown court for sentencing given the serious nature of the offending.

Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke told the defendant that when he encountered the victim on North Road on the night in question and realised she was intoxicated "you immediately saw her as a target for a sexual assault".

She noted at the time of the rape the defendant was, by his own admission, under the influence of cannabis.

She added that he has no insight into his offending and has no victim empathy, feeling "considerable anger" towards the woman and blaming her for him being in court.

The judge disregarded sentencing guidelines for young offenders to hand the defendant a nine-year extended sentence comprising five years detention followed by a four-year licence period.

He must serve two-thirds of the custodial term before he will be considered for release.

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