A sex attacker who left his girlfriend’s room during the night to rape a teenage girl in the neighbouring room was jailed for 14 years on Tuesday.
Anthony Christian, 33, sexually assaulted the teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, after she had returned to the Balham hostel from church on April 6 this year.
Christian knocked on the door of the 18-year-old victim’s room and demanded she have sex with him or he would kill her.
Judge Gerald Gordon told the offender: “I considered very carefully whether the public require extra protection in the form of an extended sentence but in my view the inevitable length itself provides very substantial protection for the public.”
When the victim refused, Christian put his hand over her mouth, pushed her back into the bedroom and forced himself upon her in a 15 minute ordeal, whilst his girlfriend slept metres away.
The convicted rapist warned her not to tell anybody before returning to his partner at the hostel, The Old Bailey was told.
The victim was taken to hospital shortly after trying to take an overdose of her medication and told a psychiatric nurse about her ordeal.
Yvonne Traynor, CEO of Rape Crisis South London, said: “Rape and Child sexual abuse is no longer the ‘Silent Crime’ that kept perpetrators safe from prison.”
A spokesman from the Met Police said: “The Metropolitan Police Service takes the investigation of serious sexual assaults extremely seriously.
“However, we are not complacent and we know there is always more that can be done to improve our service to victims.
“That is why the Met continues to work closely with key partners including the CPS, the Havens and charities such as Rape Crisis in order to improve our performance and increase confidence.”
Picture courtesy of Ray Forster, with thanks
