Pensioner guilty in sex cases walks free MAN, 75, COULD HAVE DIED IN PRISON FOR HISTORIC RAPE OFFENCES AGAINST TWO GIRLS

A BATLEY pensioner accused of raping two girls has walked from court with an absolute discharge.

Jeremiah Cummins, 75, suffers from vascular dementia, a condition which means a judge couldn’t lock him up.

He would have faced years behind bars for sexual abuse in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, but concerns over his mental state led to his trial at Bradford Crown Court being halted in September. Before his case could be heard by a second jury last month psychiatrists indicated that he was “unfit to plead” to the allegations.

Cummins was then found by the jury to have “committed the acts alleged against him” following a special hearing during which both of the complainants gave evidence.

Judge Jonathan Rose said Cummins, of Arncliffe Road, Healey, had tried to get one of the girls to let a dog have sex with her while the other had been forced to drink the defendant’s urine from a cup.

Judge Rose said the undisputed evidence from the psychiatrists meant there were limited ways of dealing with his case.

“I cannot by law send you to prison,” said the judge.

After reading further reports on Cummins the judge concluded that he was suffering from a mental disorder which was not capable of being treated.

“I am precluded from sending you to hospital or placing you under supervision for it would be unlawful for me to do so and would in any event merely involve expenditure of public money with no possible positive outcome in terms of treatment or rehabilitation. “The finding of disability means that no form of punishment is possible however much the man who committed these dreadful acts may warrant such punishment and retribution.

“In those circumstances it is an inevitable consequence of your condition, and of the law, that in respect of each offence I am required to make an order of absolute discharge.”

The court heard that the pensioner still disputed the jury’s findings. Judge Rose said Cummins would now have to register as a sex offender with the police for the next five years.

Judge Rose also imposed a lifetime sexual harm prevention order which bans Cummins from having contact with either of the complainants, having unsupervised contact with under 16s or having under 16s at any residence where he lives.