Transgender rapist jailed for three years in Guernsey
- Published
The sentencing followed a three-day Royal Court trial in July
A rapist has been sentenced to three years in youth detention after being found guilty of attacking a girl.
Freddie Christian Trenchard, 20, raped his underage victim in 2021, before transitioning to identify as a woman known as Alyssa Christine Trenchard.
The sentencing followed a Royal Court trial in July, at which Jurats returned an unanimous guilty verdict.
Trenchard has been sent to Les Nicolles Prison to carry out her term and will continue transitioning treatments.
She will continue to receive hormone replacement treatment and maintain appointments with a gender clinic in London, the court said.
'Lifelong impact'
The court previously heard that at the time of the offence Trenchard was 17 and in the early stages of transitioning to live as a woman.
Sentencing, Judge Catherine Fooks said: "You committed rape… all offences of rape have a significant impact on victims that cannot be overstated.
"You pleaded not guilty, forcing your victim to come to court to relive her experience. Your actions have and will continue to have a lifelong impact of your victim."
Defending, Advocate Oliver Fattorini told the court his client has both male and female "anatomy" which led to a "quandary" as to where she should be incarcerated.
He said: "She has a strong desire to live as a woman which has resulted in significant psychological distress.
"The facilities in Guernsey will mean she will encounter risks specific to her. Should she be placed in an all-male wing, this will be degrading for her".
Risk assessment
Judge Fooks previously told the court Trenchard's transgender status should not be taken into account during deliberations, because she was biologically male at the time of the attack.
Guernsey Prison governor John De Carteret said imprisonment decisions were based on the criminal's sex at birth and risk assessment was "paramount for the management of individuals who are transgender".
"The assessment... seeks to protect both the welfare and rights of the individual, but also focuses on ensuring the welfare and rights of those around them.
"We would not accommodate a preoperative trans prisoner in a prison location that is not consistent with the sex they were assigned at birth."
Les Nicolles is mixed-sex during the working day but there are gender-specific living and sleeping quarters.
Follow BBC Guernsey on Twitter, external and Facebook, external. Send your story ideas to channel.islands@bbc.co.uk, external.