Locations
Ker Street, Devonport, Plymouth, Devon, PL1
Description
An Army commando who carried out a sex attack on a woman, leaving her with "irreparable damage", has been jailed.
Plymouth Crown Court heard Cpl Sam Evans, 29, attacked the 30-year-old after they met for the first time.
He was convicted at an earlier hearing of rape, two counts of sexual assault by penetration, non fatal strangulation and assault causing actual bodily harm.
Judge Robert Linford sentenced Evans to a total of 18 years for what he said was an "explosion of sexual violence".
'Her worst nightmare'
Evans, of 29 Commando, Royal Artillery Regiment, based in Plymouth, was also made the subject of 25-year-long restraining order banning any contact with his victim.
The court heard the pair had made contact months earlier through the Tinder dating app but only met by chance on the night of the attack last July and she went back to his flat in Ker Street.
His victim, who has lifelong anonymity, said during a cycle of violence that lasted for hours Evans knelt on her chest to pin her down, slapped and punched her in the head, spat in her eyes and face and urinated in her face and mouth.
The court heard he laughed off her attempts to tell him to stop and smothered her with a pillow when she screamed.
The victim said she repeatedly told him she did not want sex and she "thought I was dying" during the "violent and relentless" attack.
"Sam Evans has caused irreparable damage to me," she said.
Evans said his actions had been "playful and softly done".
The judge told Evans: "The two of you were absolutely saturated with alcohol but that is no excuse for the way you behaved; it makes it worse."
He said, when sober, "virtuous" Evans was "a hard-working, gentle, kind and considerate man" but on this night it was "an explosion of sexual violence".
Devon and Cornwall Police said the conviction was down to the "absolute courage of the victim".