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Knifepoint rapist jailed for 15 years

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A 44-year-old man who raped a woman 20 years his senior while threatening her with a knife has been jailed for 15 years.Neville Craig Richardson, a mason and labourer of no fixed abode, pretended he needed help with an emergency to gain access to his victim’s home — then attacked and robbed her.Passing sentence yesterday in the Supreme Court, Puisne Judge Charles-Etta Simmons told Richardson that his victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had been terrorised by her ordeal.Richardson this week opted to plead guilty to aggravated burglary, aggravated sexual assault and robbery just hours before a jury was to be sworn in for his trial.According to Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Cindy Clarke, the 64-year-old woman had dozed off around 11pm while watching TV in her home on February 13.She was roused 20 minutes later by a man knocking and calling her by name.Richardson told her: “Come quick — this guy’s really sick. I need to use your phone.”He was known to the woman, who opened her door, whereupon Richardson stepped in, asked again for the phone — then produced a knife and told her he was going to rape her.The woman initially refused when Richardson ordered her to take off her clothes.He placed the knife on her dresser — but brandished it at her when she refused a second time.The court heard the victim “cried and begged”, but complied. Still holding the knife, Richardson forced her to perform oral sex on him.He then put on a condom and ordered her to lie facedown on her bed before raping her.During the attack, he picked up and broke the woman’s house phone after it fell and began beeping.Richardson then demanded money. His victim replied that she didn’t work, but he dumped her purse onto the living room floor and took cash.Discovering an ATM card, Richardson then told the woman to give him her personal identification number.When the woman replied that she was too distraught to remember, he warned that he’d come back for her if she got the number wrong.Bringing the knife along, Richardson forced his victim drive him to an ATM on Par-la-Ville Road. The court heard that he told her what buttons to push, as she couldn’t see without her glasses.After taking $400 from her bank account, Richardson threatened to tie the woman up back at her house — and tried to intimidate her into silence by threatening to have her watched if he went to jail for his crimes.The complainant’s car was taken but later parked in her drive, smelling of cannabis, with the knife left behind.Richardson’s victim secured the knife in her trunk and photographed items disturbed in the attack. She reported the rape to police and underwent a hospital examination.Police sought Richardson, known as “Froggy”, on February 17, but he evaded them — and led officers on a chase around the Happy Valley area when they spotted him three days later.He was caught and subsequently picked out of an ID parade. His DNA was found on pieces of the condom, as well as the cover of the knife.When charged, Richardson told police he was sorry, adding that the attack had been “because of my drug use”.In her impact statement, his victim said: “I have cried almost every day since the attack.“If it wasn’t for the love and support I have from my family, I may have had a mental breakdown or made an attempt on my life.”She described sleepless nights, a constant fear for her safety, and the depression of being asked by her young grandchild “why I was so sad”.The victim subsequently moved out of her neighbourhood, adding: “His threat to have someone watching me if he went to jail has me looking over my shoulder.”However, she described herself as “broken, but not defeated, by this cowardly assault”.The court heard Richardson’s most recent conviction came last year when he received 14 days in jail for assaulting a police officer.His record of breaking and entering stretches back to 1980, and includes two other assaults — one committed in 1990 while stealing cash from a woman and another assault on two police officers in 2000.From the dock, Richardson told his victim he was sorry, adding: “You didn’t deserve what I did to you.”However, Mrs Justice Simmons told Richardson that behaviour like his “strikes fear and terror into the hearts of women, and makes all women feel vulnerable”.Noting he had spared his victim the indignity of a public trial, she sentenced him to six years for the burglary and nine for aggravated sexual assault, to run consecutively.His five years for robbery will run concurrently.However, Mrs Justice Simmons turned down Ms Clarke’s request for an order requiring Richardson to complete half his sentence before being eligible for parole.This means Richardson can in theory apply for parole after five years behind bars.His time already spent in custody was also taken into account.

Neville Richardson covers his head as he is led away from Supreme Court (photo by Glenn Tucker)