GIRL GANG-RAPED ON 16TH BIRTHDAY AFTER DRINK LACED WITH COCAINE
A teenage girl was gang-raped on her sixteenth birthday after being served a drink contaminated with cocaine, which caused her to lose consciousness.She later awoke to find several men assaulting her.
The girl was at a party in Cardiff in 2019 when she was exploited by rapist Prince Irving and others who laced her beverage with a Class A drug, resulting in her blacking out.
After Irving’s arrest, the 28-year-old claimed he had never been to Cardiff, but a sample taken from the girl matched his DNA profile.
The victim, who maintains lifelong anonymity, stated that she would remember the assault every time she celebrates her birthday.
The court heard that a third man had intended to commit rape but was prevented from doing so due to a disturbance at the flat.
The attack caused the girl to suffer extensive bleeding.
In a personal statement read to the court by prosecutor Matthew Cobbe, the victim conveyed that the assault had severely impacted her daily life.
She explained: "I went out to celebrate my birthday and ended up in a nightmare.
Every year on my birthday, I will remember what happened." She also said: "I have little social interaction now, and my confidence is very low.
I feel too anxious to go out at night, and I hesitate to leave the comfort of my home or spend time outside my bedroom...
Sometimes I feel like the memory of the attack is fading, but then a trigger brings back a flashback, and I feel like I’m back at square one.
Nightmares also torment me and remind me of that night." “The incident has made me extremely cautious around men, and I’m not even considering building relationships.
Regaining trust will take a long time.
It hurts me to see how much stress and pain this has caused my family — I irrationally feel responsible for their suffering.” “I do not harbor forgiveness for my attacker.
He is the one responsible for the pain inflicted on me and my family, and nothing can undo what happened.”
