GARETH EDWARDS JAILED FOR SEXUAL ASSAULT AND DRUGGING GIRL IN ABERYSTWYTH
A father-of-three gave a teenage girl drugs before sexually assaulting her in his car, a court has heard.Gareth Edwards stopped the girl from answering her phone during the ordeal and told her to lie about what had happened and not to tell the police.
A judge told the defendant he had taken advantage of the situation and taken advantage of the teen "for what she was or what you perceived her to be".
Swansea Crown Court heard Edwards gave his young victim cocaine and twice sexually assaulted her in his car in Aberystwyth in May last year.
While the girl was in the car her phone rang but the defendant stopped her from answering it.
He later told her not to tell the police.
The incident was reported to the police and the defendant was located and arrested following an appeal by officers for help from the public.
The 36-year-old denied the allegations but was convicted at trial.
In a statement which was read to the court by prosecution barrister Helen Randall the victim said the assault had changed who she is, and that she has gone from being a "bubbly person with lots of friends" who enjoyed socialising to being "withdrawn" and more isolated.
She said Edwards had given her cocaine to take advantage of her and "he knows what he did that night".
The teenager added that giving evidence at the trial had been stressful and at one stage she had not been sure if she could go ahead with it, but she said she did it "to keep other girls safe".
Edwards, of Bridge Street, Aberystwyth, had previously been convicted at trial of sexual assault and assault by penetration when he returned to the dock for sentencing.
He has 24 previous convictions for 27 offences, the last being for malicious communications in December 2023 for which he was given a community order - an order he went on to breach five times.
Darren Almeida, for Edwards, said it was clear from the pre-sentence report that the defendant maintains his innocence.
He said the complainant had consumed a number of substances on the night in question and said there was no evidence that the defendant had pressurised or forced her into taking cocaine, and he asked the court to find that cocaine had not been used to facilitate the offending.
The barrister said that the father-of-three had been acting as a Welsh language mentor while on remand in prison and had a trusted job, and he said "to use the vernacular" his client just wants to "keep his head down" while in custody.
Judge Huw Rees told Edwards the complainant had been intoxicated, vulnerable, and two decades his junior when she got into his car on the night in question.
He told him: "You took advantage of the situation.
You took advantage of her for what she was or what you perceived her to be." Edwards was sentenced to five years in prison.
He will serve half in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.
The defendant will also be a registered sex offender for life.
