September 2011 Teen guilty of attempted sexual attack on girl, 12 A teenager has been found guilty of attempting to sexually assault a 12-year-old girl. Rhys Bevan Christopher, 18, of Bonvilston Road, Trallwn, denied two counts of sexual assault of a child under 13 and one of assaulting a child under the age of 13 by penetration, between October 31, 2010 and January 17, 2011. The jury of six men and six women at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court found him not guilty of all three counts but found him guilty of attempted sexual assault of a child under 13, the alternative to sexual assault of a child under 13. Suzanne Thomas, prosecuting, said the 12-year-old girl had alleged she had been the victim of the teenager’s sexual advances in a campaign of alleged physical and sexual abuse. The court was told how Christopher had sent the youngster explicit and inappropriate sexual messages, one of which was discovered by her mother. Christopher denied all the offences and told the jury that the explicit and sexually suggestive messaging – which the prosecution said indicated things that had already happened – had been “a joke” because he knew it would never come to anything. He added that the messages had been sent in response to the girl sending messages to him. When questioned by Ms Thomas of the inappropriateness of his messaging to the girl, Christopher repeatedly said: “I didn’t do it. It was all a joke. I knew nothing would come of it.” Christopher was told he will have to sign as a sex offender