BROPHY: RAPIST INFECTED WOMAN WITH HEPATITIS C

A burglar who raped a woman and infected her with Hepatitis C after breaking into her home as she slept was jailed indefinitely today (FRI).

Lee Brophy, 44, tied the middle-aged victim to her bed with a dressing gown cord before subjecting her to what a judge called ‘the most horrific of ordeals’.

The woman, who had already beaten cancer three times before the attack, feared she was going to be killed or bound and gagged and left to die.

She now faces dealing with life-long liver problems on top of the lasting shock and humiliation of the attack.

Judge Peter Rook QC told Brophy that he had ‘blighted the rest of her life’ as he sentenced him to at least six years and 207 days behind bars.

The Old Bailey heard Brophy had been given a suspended sentence for possessing a knife just seven days before the attack on the night of April 14 last year.

He removed a panel from her back door, climbed in and made his way to the bedroom after cutting the telephone line.

Prosecutor Lesley Bates said: ‘She woke up suddenly. It was still dark outside and she saw a man standing by her bed.

‘He had a triumphant look upon his face. Without so much as a word he came forward to her and covered her head so she was unable to see.

‘He tied her arms over her head in a seemingly professional and neat way. He then told her he was going to rape her. He said he would hit her if she looked at him.

‘She begged him not to, she told him she had not had sex for 15 to 20 years, she told him she was a lesbian and had cancer, telling him everything she could in a desperate plea to stop what was going to happen.’

Brophy then raped her twice without a condom, causing her ‘excruciating pain’, before forcing her to wash herself in the bath in a bid to destroy evidence.

He told her he was not HIV positive but it later emerged that he had been diagnosed with Hepatitis C shortly before the attack.

‘She complied with everything he said, fearful of what might happen to her,’ said Miss Bates.

Brophy then took her back to the bed and tied her hands and feet, stroking her and telling her she had a beautiful figure, the court heard.

‘She was afraid she was going to be raped again. She was terrified she would be left alone tied up and unable to get out of her house.

‘She was petrified and pleaded with him not to gag her.’

Brophy forced the woman to hand over her credit card details and fled with her keys, phone and laptop. At 7am that same morning he withdraw £500 from her account.

Fortunately the victim was able to release herself from the ties and raise the alarm with a neighbour.

She was found to have bruising on her head, face, shoulder and chest as well as injuries to her genitals.

Miss Bates told the court that the victim had been too scared to return to her home for two months.

‘She has been depressed, suffering from weight loss and described herself as being fearful,’ she said.

‘She has described herself as always being a strong person but that this crime has left her in fear and shock.’

Brophy was arrested four days after the attack and tried to blame a man called ‘Gary’ before being linked to the crime by his DNA.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of rape and one of burglary last month.

Judge Rook told him: ‘You not only burgled the home of your victim while she was asleep in her bed but you subjected her to the most dreadful indignity of violent rape.

‘You subjected her to the most horrific of ordeals while holding her a prisoner in her own home.

‘She honestly felt she was going to die during this ordeal. She has described herself as a strong person who has battled cancer on three occasions.

‘However she has been left with feelings of fear, shock and shame. It took her two months to be able to return to her own home. She will never feel safe again.

‘In short you have blighted the rest of her life.

‘You were well aware that by your actions you were passing on Hepatitis C, a condition which can cause serious liver damage. I am told eighty per cent of people who suffer from Hepatitis C have it for life.

‘I regard it as a significant aggravated feature that you perpetrated these offences knowing you had Hepatitis C.

‘I have come to the conclusion that even though this was your first sexual offence you do represent a significant risk of serious harm to members of the public.’

Brophy, of [31A] Further Green Road, Verdant Lane, Catford, southeast London, was sentenced to imprisonment for public protection with a minimum term of six years and 207 years before being considered for parole.

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