‘Heinous’ man who lured nephew’s ex-partner from Derby domestic violence shelter for gang-rape jailed

A second man who subjected a young Derby woman to a “heinous and degrading” gang-rape alongside his nephew has been jailed. The 33-year-old man, who will not be named to protect the identity of the victim, was sentenced to eight years jail for unlawfully detaining her and sexually assaulting her twice. The man was initially slated to go to trial but changed his plea early last week. The court heard the victim had been in a relationship with the co-offender for about four years and had spent a night at the Derby Women’s Refuge because of a prior domestic violence incident between the pair. While visiting her aunt, the victim received a call from the man instructing her to go to a particular house alone. When she eventually met the man at the property he asked her “so are we going to do it or not?” to which she immediately responded “no” and continued rejecting his advances throughout the property, eventually ending up in the bathroom together where the victim realised she had no power or credit on her phone. The co-offender eventually arrived at the property and told the victim and the man to come out, only for him to punch the victim several times to her upper body and force her into the bedroom, where a table was pushed against the door to prevent her escaping. The court heard that former partner told the victim he and his uncle were “going to do stupid things” to her and “gang bang her” for several hours. Despite her cries, the victim was held on the bed by the two men who simultaneously raped her. After several minutes, the ex-partner forced the man out of the room and continued sexually assaulting the victim in the bathroom until the man told the pair to leave. Upon leaving, the distressed victim was able to run to a neighbour’s house and report the incident. It was acknowledged the co-offender had previously been sentenced to nine years in jail for his role in the attack. The court later heard the man had a criminal record dating back to when he was 12 years old and included several assaults against police officers, his ex-partner and his sister. It was also found the man had also been convicted for his role in a two-on-one sexual assault against a woman in her 20s while he was a juvenile. In an oral pre-sentence report, it was found the man’s alcohol abuse was a major factor in his offending and would be a danger to society if he did not address his alcohol addiction. In sentencing, District Court Judge Amanda Burrows said the victim’s impact statement was “extremely compelling” and found the incident has clearly had an “enormous impact” on the woman, who claimed she had “lost everything”. “It is inexplicable how her family have stopped talking to her even though she did not do anything wrong,” she said. “She was subjected to a horrific, sustained and degrading assault by two men who were much bigger and more powerful than she is and one of those men was a person she should have been able to trust. “That trust was dreadfully betrayed.” Judge Burrows acknowledged that while the man’s degree of culpability was slightly less than the co-offender, she found that if he had not convinced the woman to come over, the offending would not have happened. The man will be eligible for parole in August 2023.