ANTONY WILLIAMS FROM SWINDON JAILED FOR ABUSE IN PENHILL NEIGHBORHOOD
In a disturbing case that has shocked the community of Penhill in Swindon, Antony Williams, aged 37, has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison for heinous sexual offenses committed during his teenage years.The crimes, which took place in the late 1990s, involved Williams abusing a young girl while he was babysitting her and her younger sister, actions that have left lasting scars on the victim.
Williams, who was found guilty by a jury at Swindon Crown Court last year of two counts of indecent assault, maintained his innocence during the sentencing hearing held on Wednesday.
Despite the jury’s verdict, Williams, through his legal representative Don Tait, expressed his belief that he had been wrongly convicted.
Tait requested the judge to consider a suspended sentence, arguing that Williams was adamant he was innocent and that he was only 15 or 16 years old at the time of the offenses.
However, Judge Peter Crabtree was unpersuaded by these arguments.
He emphasized the serious and enduring impact of Williams’s actions on his young victim.
The judge recounted how the girl described her experience of freezing during the assaults and feeling unable to react, as well as how Williams had told her to keep what happened a secret, further traumatizing her.
The judge highlighted that Williams had touched the girl’s private parts while she was lying on her bed and had also coerced her into touching him sexually, including during bedtime story sessions for her younger sister.
The court heard that the abuse occurred when Williams was in his mid-teens, specifically in the late 1990s, while he was acting as a babysitter.
Although he also looked after the younger sister, there was no evidence to suggest she was subjected to any abuse.
The victim, now an adult, recounted her experience during police interviews in 2018, stating, “I just thought it was normal.
I didn’t think anything of it,” and described how she froze during the assaults.
Following her disclosure to her mother, the woman confronted Williams, who denied the allegations and suggested she take her daughter to a doctor to prove she had not been assaulted.
Williams, of Ramsbury Avenue, Penhill, also denied the charges during the trial, claiming he was only 11 or 12 years old when the incidents supposedly occurred.
In addition to the prison sentence, Judge Crabtree imposed a lifelong sexual harm prevention order on Williams.
He is also required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
Furthermore, Williams admitted to a separate charge of failing to surrender, which was related to his failure to appear at a court hearing last year in Swindon.
Earlier in November 2020, Williams was found guilty of molesting the girl in the 1990s after a lengthy trial that lasted over eight hours.
Jurors, by a majority of 10 to 2, convicted him of two counts of indecent assault, while acquitting him of three other similar charges.
The judge at that time, Judge Peter Crabtree, indicated that the seriousness of the offenses warranted a custodial sentence but acknowledged Williams’s young age at the time of the crimes.
The case has brought to light the disturbing reality of abuse occurring within seemingly ordinary family settings and underscores the importance of vigilance and justice for victims of such heinous acts.
