BRADLEY CARMAN OF INCE SENTENCED IN CANTERBURY AFTER DELAYED JUSTICE FOR 2016 ATTACKS

Two women, victims of a brutal rape after their drinks were spiked, endured a more than five-year wait for justice. Their attacker, Bradley Carman, was only recently sentenced following delays in the legal process. The attack occurred in 2016, during which Carman humiliated and degraded two unconscious women after spiking their drinks. The incident was recorded by a friend, and the footage was later circulated publicly.

At Canterbury Crown Court on Friday, Judge Mark Weekes sentenced the 22-year-old Carman to seven and a half years in prison. The judge remarked, "You slipped chemicals into their drinks or made the drinks as strong as possible to make them unconscious. They were given drinks that made them very unwell. There was evidence from both victims that it was recorded by your friend, and while you might not be responsible for the filming, you were a willing and enthusiastic participant. You chose to fight this trial on what I deemed to be the clearest and most compelling evidence."

During his trial in December, Carman argued that the sexual contact with both women was consensual. His lawyers claimed the women falsely accused him due to feelings of shame after a video of the assault circulated. Kieran Brand, Carman’s barrister, told jurors that the victims' testimonies were inconsistent and that the women behaved recklessly and impulsively.

The jury convicted Carman, who was just 17 at the time, of three counts of rape. One victim testified she was intermittently unconscious during the assault, recalling, "We had one-and-a-half drinks, and after that, I don't remember what happened. I remember coming to and Bradley being on top of me. I don’t remember what happened in between. I was really, really out of it. I wasn’t in the right position, I didn’t say no, I didn't say yes either. I couldn’t do anything to stop it because I wasn’t in the right state to say no." She added, "Someone was filming it, I remember someone filming it, it was dark, and he had his flash on, laughing."

The second victim described feeling unwell after finishing her drink and being attacked afterward, saying, "I couldn’t do anything to stop it, I wasn’t in the right position to say no... It started getting really weird. We started to feel not necessarily paralytic, but it wasn’t right."

Both women reported the assaults months later, suspecting their drinks had been spiked. The court heard that these delays contributed to the over five-year span before justice was finally served.

During the sentencing, one victim shared her ongoing struggles, revealing, "I attempted to take my own life because of what I went through. I often feel alone and helpless. I thought death was my only way out. I sometimes get flashbacks and night terrors and wake up crying."

The other victim described how the assault shattered her confidence, leaving her with anxiety and trust issues. Carman, of Ince Road, was sentenced as a juvenile due to his age at the time of the offenses and will remain on the sex offenders register indefinitely. No charges have been filed against his friend involved in the filming.