Locations
Bulkhead Drive, Fleetwood, FY7
Description
A man who raped a child when she was still in infant classes has been jailed for four years and nince months.
Reece McNair, now 28, sexually abused the little girl on numerous occasions when he was 16 years old. The child, who can not be named for leal reasons, kept the abuse secret for around a decade but later disclosed what had happened to her to an NHS worker she was seeing to support her with her mental health.
McNair, of Bulkhead Drive, Fleetwood, was arrested and confessed he had abused the girl. He later pleaded guilty to two counts of rape, attempted rape and four counts of sexual assault.
The girl and her mother set out how the abuse had affected them for many years before the youngster disclosed what had happened to her.
She said: "I don't remember a time when my body felt clean. I have had my childhood stolen from me. I can't remember good things from my childhood, only bad.
"He has truly torn my life apart and I will never be able to live a normal life again. I just want my brain to shut off and stop feeling things."
Her mother said she will never forget the day she was called into CAMHS (child and adolescent mental health services) and told what had happened to her daughter. She said her daughter had displayed signs of distress and missed out educationally due to her trauma.
"No-one wants to believe they missed something as significant as their child being sexually abused", she said. "That cuts deep. Her struggles did not go unnoticed but unfortunately she felt unable to share what happened to her."
Her daughter has a fear of men as a result of what happened to her and was frightened of Father Christmas, and speaking to male police officers and teachers.
McNair wrote a letter to the court, "to say how sorry I am for the pain and heartbreak I have caused her and her family".
He said: "I deserve to be punished and it will never happen again."
The court heard he was 16 at the time he committed the offences and has since been diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorder. A psychiatric report stated he would be vulnerable in prison and find his sentence traumatic.
Judge Gioserano said: "She was but a child. It was not her fault, it was your fault. You took her childhood and no sentence, however long, can give her that back.
"It goes without saying that I am sentencing you as an adult for offences you committed when you were not yet an adult. I must take into account all that this means by way of reduced culpability."
He also considered the guidelines for sentencing people with mental or developmental disorders but said: "Although you were young yourself and suffering from a disorder which reduces your culpability further, you still knew full well that what you were doing was very wrong."