Seekio Wittridge 25

Description

A 15-year-old was sexually assaulted by a man who approached her outside a shop and threatened to hold her knife to her throat and rape her. When the victim told her his age he continued to follow her and repeatedly grabbed her as she tried to escape.

Seekio Wittridge, 25, approached the girl outside a Tesco Express in Cardiff in April last year after she had got off a bus. She saw the defendant staring at her and he was in possession of a wooden plank.

A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court on Thursday heard Wittridge slightly barged the victim into the store windows in North Road and he told her she was "beautiful". She ignored him and tried to cross the road but he walked alongside her as she tried to speed up. He grabbed her right arm and pulled her back and repeated to her that she was "beautiful".

The victim told him she was only 15 years old and he claimed he was 14, which she knew to be untrue on account of his appearance. The defendant then told her he was 25 and when she brought up the 10-year age gap he said: "So that's 10 years in prison for me is it?"

Prosecutor Ruth Smith said Wittridge put his arms out to touch the victim and stroked her to her upper chest and touched her skin around her collar bone. He stroked her outer legs on both sides back and forth and she swatted his hand away. The defendant pulled her back again by the shoulder which caused the victim to kick him in the shin and tell him to go away.

The victim began recording the incident and left a voice message for a male friend to come to the scene and was crying as she did so. Wittridge became aggressive, asked the victim if she was speaking to her boyfriend, and threatened to assault him with a plank of wood.

He went on to repeatedly asked the victim to "f*** him" and when sherefused he made a threat to hold a knife to her throat and rape her. The male friend arrived at the scene and was hugged by the victim who said Wittridge had touched her chest and she felt "disgusting".

The friend questioned the defendant who apologised and again described the victim as "beautiful". He also claimed again he was a teenager but the victim struck Wittridge with a chocolate bar and told him he was lying. When asked why he was carrying a plank of wood the defendant said it was his walking stick. He eventually apologised and said he "didn't want any trouble".

The police were called and the defendant was arrested. He admitted speaking to the victim and claimed she had accused him of being a paedophile. Wittridge, of Yr Hen Fuarth, was initially placed in a secure hospital over concerns he was experiencing psychosis but later pleaded guilty to a count of sexual assault. The court heard he had previous convictions for assaulting an emergency worker and a public order offence during which he followed a woman he spoke to outside a pub and asked to go to her home to have sex with her.

In a victim personal statement the girl said: "The incident has made me not want to walk out on my own anymore and have to ask friends to come with me everywhere I go. It made me anxious about talking to new people, especially men who are talking to me in the street, even though they might not have any intentions. I am angry and upset about most things that happen now in life. Since the incident I have a shorter fuse with everything that goes wrong. I shower and feel gross about myself, leading to me crying a lot."

In mitigation Andrew Davies said it was most likely his client was suffering with psychosis at the time of the offence as a result of psychoactive substance abuse. He said the defendant wishes to stay away from drugs and wants to "settle down".

Sentencing, Judge Lucy Crowther said: "This must have been an extremely frightening experience for a 15-year-old girl on her own in the middle of the day... The effect of your behaviour has been grave on this young woman."

Wittridge was sentenced to 16 months imprisonment. He was also made subject to a sexual harm prevention order, sex offender notification requirements, and a restraining order each lasting for 10 years.