Locations
Heaning Avenue, Blackburn, Lancashire, BB1
Description
A VIOLENT thug has been jailed for eight years after raping and threatening to kill a woman.
Preston Crown Court heard how Vincent Grieve raped the woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, at a house in Blackburn.
Prosecuting Charles Brown said that following the sexual assault she managed to escape from the house, wearing just a pair of socks.
The woman had earlier tried to leave the house but 30-year-old Grieve, who had been drinking rum, hit her from behind as she tried to get to the front door.
The victim was made to lie down on the floor before she was strangled. Grieve then bombarded her with verbal abuse, punched her in the face and stamped on her torso.
The court was told Grieve, of Heaning Avenue, Blackburn, also threatened to kill her with a knife, cut off her head with an electric saw and hit her over the head with a bottle of Captain Morgan.
The woman was then whipped twice with Grieve’s belt and told she would spend a life in his servitude.
Grieve then raped her saying: “I have never touched a girl with head injuries before.”
The semi-naked victim ran out of the house and jumped into a neighbour’s garden before heading onto the street.
She had sustained serious injuries to her face and was missing a clump of hair.
Reading her victim personal statement in court, she said: “I find myself wondering what is the point of it all, carrying this pain almost every second of every day.
“The fact I still have my life where others do not should make me feel better but I’m using it as an excuse not to go to pieces.
“I dream it every night and it’s so vivid. I relive every punch, kick and blow. Living with this every day is suffocating.”
Grieve pleaded guilty to rape and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Bob Sastry, defending, described the incident as a grave and serious matter.
He said: “The defendant acknowledges that and wishes to express his remorse and apologise to the victim.”
Judge Simon Medland QC described the actions of Grieve as coercive and degrading.
He said: “You inflicted substantial damage and numerous injuries through beatings and slaps.“You treated her with utter contempt as if nothing more than a punch bag or possession of yours.”
Grieve was sentenced to eight years imprisonment and an indefinite restraining order was made.