Sonny Rogers 24

Description

A Cheltenham man who racially and sexually threatened his female probation officer with a tirade of graphic hateful messages and phone calls has been jailed for two years and four months.

Gloucester Crown Court heard yesterday (Feb 2) that when the probation officer turned on her work phone on August 10 last year she had numerous messages and two voicemails from Sonny Rogers, 21, of Grosvenor Street, Cheltenham.

Prosecutor Lucie Stoker said the voicemails were 'particularly graphic' and added They were directed at the probation officer and contained threats of sexual violence towards her.

The messages were very graphic and threatened the woman with female genital mutilation. Rogers told her to 'get ready for nine inches of a prime 20-year-old manhood.'

Other messages included threats of terrorism acts towards her and other extreme acts of sexual violence towards her. This included stating that he was going to cut her womb and ovaries out and saying that he would smash her face in so it would be black and blue.

He suggested that the woman was subjected to sexual abuse when she was a child and he stated that he wanted to have sex with her as if she was a little girl.

Rogers also used the 'N word' towards the woman on numerous occasions and threatened to throw battery acid over her."

The court heard a recording of a seven minute call made by Rogers who vented his thoughts to the woman, without pausing.

Judge Ian Lawrie QC commented: While the content wasnt clear, the tone and the delivery certainly was.

The language is extreme and because of the nature of the threats it nudges the severity of this offending upwards.

The court was told that Rogers had previously been in prison for accessing child and extreme pornography and had been released on licence that required him to keep in contact with his probation supervisor.

The probation officer said she had been working in the sector for 14 years and had never been subjected to such abuse before. She is now uncomfortable in making home visits on her own, she said.

Joe Maloney defending, said: Rogers has a Jekyll and Hyde quality about him. He is a pleasant and personable man who has written to the court and the probation officer to apologise for his actions. "

Judge Lawrie interjected: His behaviour is so appalling that a mere apology does not cut any ice.

Mr Maloney added: Rogers accepts that he will receive a custodial sentence. However he is aggrieved that he was not properly assisted by probation in that they did not engage with him to address his sexual problems.

Rogers pleaded guilty to harassment by putting a woman in fear of violence between August 8 and 10, 2020 and sending the woman by means of electronic communications messages that were grossly offensive, obscene and menacing on August 11, 2020.

Judge Lawrie told Rogers: In sentencing terms you present the court with a dilemma as these offences cause me great concern. They demonstrate irrational behaviour, offensive behaviour in respect of a woman trying to help you.

Ive read all the messages you sent the woman and listened to that lengthy call. They are rampant, offensive and insulting. Your actions have installed an enormous amount of fear for the woman.

You went beyond the boundaries of decency because of your emotional graphic terms towards her.

I have no option that only an immediate custodial term will reflect the gravity of your irrational and alarming offending.

I take the view your actions were persistent, extreme in nature and I think in your current condition, you are dangerous."

Judge Lawrie sentenced Rogers to a jail term of two years and four months and imposed an indefinite restraining order not to contact the woman. He also ordered him to pay a victim surcharge of 190.