NEWPORT MAN JAILED FOR RAPING WOMAN WHILE SHE SLEPT
A MAN is starting a lengthy prison sentence after he was found guilty following a trial of raping a woman while she slept.Anthony Bowyer, 38, of Treberth Avenue, Newport was convicted by a jury of sexually assaulting the woman on January 2 last year.
The amphetamine addict was also found guilty of witness intimidation after he tried to get her to drop the case against him.
He had denied the allegations during his trial at Newport Crown Court.
Bowyer was sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court today.
In a victim impact statement, the woman said she felt “shame” when she went to a sexual assault referral centre following the rape.
“I thought my heart was going to stop,” she revealed.
“When I left, tears were rolling down my face.
“I felt broken in every possible way.
“He took my dignity.
I can’t let this destroy me.” The defendant had 37 previous convictions for 81 offences but none for any sexual crimes.
Bowyer did have a caution for indecent assault after he slapped the bottom of a police community support officer when he was 19.
His barrister Julia Cox said of his client’s rape conviction: “He’s deeply embarrassed and ashamed.
“There is a prospect of rehabilitation in this case.” The judge, Recorder Paul Hartley-Davies told Bowyer: “Your victim has been left very distressed as a result of this incident.” The defendant was jailed for eight years for the rape offence and a consecutive term of one year for witness intimidation.
He will serve two-thirds of that nine-year term in custody before being released on licence after six years.
Bowyer will have to register as a sex offender for life and he was made the subject of a 10-year restraining order not to contact the woman.
The defendant will have to pay a £228 victim surcharge.
