TEENAGER 'BROKEN' BY SEXUAL ASSAULT AFTER PARTY
A man who left a teenager "absolutely broken" when he sexually assaulted her while she was sleeping after a party has been jailed for four years and three months.Stephen Scott, 26, repeatedly had unwanted sexual contact with the young woman while she was frozen with terror, Newcastle Crown Court heard.
The victim said she felt like she was living in a nightmare and her trauma had only been made worse by Scott trying to change his guilty pleas after initially admitting his actions.
Scott, from South Shields, admitted three counts of sexual assault.
He apologised to the woman the morning after the assault but she had the "courage" to report him to police, Judge Thomas Moran said.
Having initially pleaded guilty, Scott sought to vacate his pleas which resulted in lengthening the time it took to go through court and put the victim in fear of having to give evidence, the court heard.
In a statement read to the court, the woman said waiting for the case to resolve had been "absolute torture".
She said when Scott initially pleaded guilty for the "horrible things" he had done she felt some relief, but that came "crashing down" when he tried to roll back on his admission.
She said she "loved life" and "didn't have a care in the world" before the assault, but Scott's actions had changed her for the "absolute worst", adding: "I no longer recognised the person I am now." She said she felt like she was living in a nightmare, feeling "lost, scared and empty" and "absolutely broken".
But she said she was trying to get help and was "not going to let that vile boy ruin my life".
Judge Moran said the woman described feeling "stuck and frozen" during the "persistent" assault, which was a typical response, while Scott ignored her pleas for him to stop.
Scott lied to police by saying there had been no sexual activity and then claimed he could not recall the assault, which the judge said was "extremely unlikely to be true".
