Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Man raped girl, 9, because ‘she wanted me to’
Pervert found guilty of vile attacks
A MAN who told his young rape victim he “thought she wanted” to be abused as a nine-year-old wept as he was jailed yesterday.
Richard Francis, 37, made the claim in a text years later as he tried to re-establish contact with the victim who branded him “as bad as Jimmy Savile”.
The accused denied sending the message and abusing the girl but a jury unanimously convicted him of two counts each of raping and indecently assaulting her on various dates in 2006.
At the time, despite being 15 years her senior, Francis, from Co Fermanagh, joined in games with the victim and others.
Playing hide and seek, they ended up in a shed where he raped her.
On another occasion in his own home, Francis locked his sister in a bedroom so he “wouldn’t be disturbed” before stripping and carrying out a serious sex attack on the victim in the living room.
Dungannon Crown Court also heard some of the text messages exchanged between the girl and Francis more than a decade later. She complained he had taken her “dignity” and was “lucky I didn’t go to police... I was nine. You raped me”.
When he claimed to offer an apology, she replied: “Sorry isn’t good enough... Was I the only one you raped?”
Francis replied: “Yes but I thought you wanted me to.”
The victim added: “I was nine. I wanted to be the queen then.
“You should be in prison you ignorant, arrogant, rapist... You are as bad as Jimmy Savile.” A visibly shaken and sobbing Francis, from Willoughby Place in Enniskillen, was remanded in custody despite a defence appeal for bail.
Judge Neil Rafferty said on the basis of the conviction imprisonment was inevitable and it was therefore “not appropriate” to release the defendant.
Francis will return to court next month when he will be sentenced for his crimes.