Cumbria man jailed for raping 16-year-old
The 26-year-old man walked the extremely intoxicated girl into a park before assaulting her
A 'predatory' Whitehaven man has been jailed after raping a 16-year-old girl.
Callum Johnstone, now 29, was high on alcohol and cocaine when he led the extremely drunk teen to a town park and “took advantage” of her, Carlisle Crown Court heard today (Friday 2 May).
Earlier that night Johnstone had sat in a Whitehaven bar for a prolonged period with the intoxicated teen, who was captured on CCTV with her head on a table and then stumbling on a dance floor.
He followed the teen after she left the premises and took her to the park by “guiding her or at least holding her up” on the way.
She had limited recollection of what then occurred but told others after the incident: “He told me to do things. Sexual things.”
After a crown court trial last week, Johnstone was convicted, unanimously, of raping the girl and assaulting her.
“She was scared throughout that no-one would believe her,” said prosecutor Tim Evans as he read a moving victim impact statement during Johnstone’s sentencing hearing.
“I know what I felt. I know how scary it was,” stated the girl, who said her self-confidence had since “completely disappeared”. “It’s always going to be in my mind, no matter how much I try to distract myself.”
The girl’s devastated mother described the family being left “broken”, with their lives “changed completely”. “I doubt I will ever get my funny, loving daughter back,” she stated, “but if this experience gives just some people the courage to speak out about rape and sexual assault, and report it, then hopefully our awful experience will not have been wasted.”
But as he imposed a six-and-a-half year prison sentence, Judge Nicholas Barker told the defendant: “I am satisfied that you behaved in a predatory manner towards her that night. You were 26. She was an extremely drunk 16-year-old girl. I am satisfied that the only reason that you were sat there with her (in the bar) was because you harboured a sexual interest towards her.”
Johnstone, of Earls Road, Whitehaven, must serve two-thirds of the jail term before being considered for release from custody. He must sign the sex offenders’ register, indefinitely, and will be barred from working with children and vulnerable adults.