Locations
Milton Road, Southampton Common, Southampton, Hampshire, SO15 & Millbrook Road West, Southampton, Hampshire, SO15
Description
Two men have today been jailed following the rape and sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl in Southampton in December 2024.
Damian Andre Martin, 48, of Millbrook Road West, appeared at Southampton Crown Court today (Friday 25 April) where he was sentenced to 14 years in prison for rape, sexual assault, two counts of assault by penetration, assault by beating and taking a child so as to keep him/her from a person having lawful control. Martin will also have a five year extended license and be subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and the Sex Offender's Register for the rest of his life.
Gurdev Singh Rathore, 50, of Milton Road, appeared at the same court where he was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for sexual assault and causing a female 13 or over to engage in a non-penetrative sexual activity. Rathore will be subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and the Sex Offender's Register for the rest of his life.
Police received a report on Friday 27 December that some time overnight on Thursday 26 December into Friday 27 December the girl was raped by a man and sexually assaulted by a second man at an address in the St Mary’s area, both of whom she had met that evening.
The girl reported that she met the two men as she was walking along St. Mary Street. A short time later, Martin raped her and sexually assaulted her. She was then taken to an address on Chapel Road where Rathore sexually assaulted her.
Rathore and Martin both pleaded guilty to the charges against them and have now been jailed for a combined total of 18 and a half years.
On sentencing, His Honour Judge Christopher Parker told both men: "That detention of her in those terrible circumstances must have been unimaginably horrific for those close to her, but for her as a 13-year-old child to have been raped and taken to a flat, abused further sexually in turn by the pair of you must have been - as she describes it - absolutely horrendous and she was in fear of her life."
He told Martin that his behaviour was so dreadful that he could not be considered to be safe around young vulnerable children.