TWO MEN HAVE BEEN JAILED FOLLOWING A WOMAN'S LONG-RUNNING "BATTLE" FOR JUSTICE AGAINST HER CHILDHOOD ABUSERS.
Two men have been jailed after a survivor won a long-running fight for justice over the sexual abuse she suffered as a child.Timothy Edward Chambers, 51, of Loudon Square, Butetown, Cardiff, and Christopher Lawn, 29, of Penylan Road, Roath, Cardiff, were both sentenced at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court on Thursday, July 4.
The offences happened when the survivor was a child in Llandrindod Wells.
She cannot be named for legal reasons.
Chambers was convicted of three offences of sexual activity with a child.
The court heard he abused the trust placed in him through his connection to the survivor’s family and his role as a St John Ambulance leader.
Lawn was convicted of seven offences, including rape.
The court heard he raped the girl when she was just nine years old.
Both men were jailed for five years.
The survivor, now in her 20s, bravely read her own victim personal statement in court in front of the men who abused her.
She described years of “torture” and said she had blamed herself for what happened.
“I thought I was to blame and had nothing to live for,” she told the court.
She said the abuse left her with PTSD and an anxiety disorder, and described the offences as “haunting and traumatic moments” from a childhood she would never get back.
The court also heard she felt let down by the authorities and had to fight to have her case heard.
“I read this today as a survivor, not a victim,” she said.
“They took away so many years from me and they will never take any more.
I will never forgive or forget what they did to me.” Prosecutor Nicola Powell told the court that Chambers had previously received a police caution for indecent assault against a teenage girl in 1996.
The judge had ruled that the jury should not be told about that caution before reaching their verdicts.
The court heard that despite social services involvement, no action was initially taken.
A police investigation was not opened until 2016.
Claire Wilkes, defending Lawn, asked the court to take into account Lawn’s age at the time of the offences and said he had also been a victim himself.
But Judge Richard Twomlow made clear that did not excuse what happened.
“None of this takes away from the fact that he was the abuser,” he said.
Jonathan Rees, defending Chambers, argued that while Chambers had been a cadet leader, the offences were not committed in that capacity.
Judge Twomlow said Chambers knew the girl through St John Ambulance and that he had been “looked up to and trusted”.
The court was told there had been grooming behaviour and a degree of abuse of trust.
Mr Rees also told the court that Chambers had significant health problems, including asthma, diabetes, depression, and a previous stroke in 2013.
He said Chambers had a close relationship with his parents in Llandrindod Wells and that his father was unwell.
Sentencing the pair, Judge Twomlow said the survivor had endured a battle with the authorities to bring the case before the courts.
“These offences have had a very strong effect upon her,” he said.
Both Lawn and Chambers were sentenced to five years in prison.
The judge also imposed indefinite restraining orders preventing either man from contacting the survivor unless a further court order is made.
