A teenage tearaway who molested his two-year-old s
A teenage tearaway who molested his two-year-old step-sister
while he was supposed to be looking after her has been given
18 months youth detention.
The little victim had told her mum about the assault during a
bedtime story, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard.
The 17-year-old defendant, a persistent offender, also appeared
for sentence for a spate of muggings on schoolboys which he
admitted.
The youth, who was last living at North Avenue, Ramsgate,
as a bail condition, pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting his step-
sister and a charge of burgling a garage in Salisbury Road, Romford,
on August 15, 1991.
He also pleaded guilty to two charges of robbery and one of
attempted robbery last November.
And he asked for five further offences of robbery and one of
burglary to be taken into consideration.
Last month Judge Andrew Brooks remanded him in custody
with the warning that he would face up to three months detention.
But after reading reports and hearing from defence counsel Mr
Robert Fortune, Judge Brooks ordered him to be detained for a total of
18 months in a Young Offenders’ Institution.
The court had heard how in September last year the defendant
visited his mother in Romford and asked to take his step-daughter
shopping.
Later that day as the mum was about to ‘read a bedtime story’ the
child revealed that she had been sexually assaulted by her step-
brother, said Mr Alistair Keith, prosecuting.
He was arrested days later and admitted he had taken the tiny tot
to a flat he was then living at in Goodmayes.
He said that the indecency occurred after she had got into
his bed and was watching TV.
The little girl, who will be four at the end of the
year, is still receiving counselling, it was revealed.
During November last year while he was staying at an assessment
centre in Harold Wood, he was one of six teenagers who robbed
‘unsuspecting victims’ between the age of 10 and 15, of cash and
clothing.
‘They used threats and a flick comb which was intended to make
victims think there was a threat of a knife,’ said Mr Keith.
CDefence barrister Mr Fortune had described a ‘difficult
background’ which saw him in and out of care through much of his life.
He added: ‘For much of the time he was using drugs and if he
could not get drugs inhaling gas.
‘
ENDS
