Horrific ordeal at hands of terrifying thug
BRUTE RAPED WOMAN AND HELD BABY UNDERWATER IN SICKENING ATTACKS
A TERRIFYING thug subjected a woman to physical and mental torture and held a baby underwater during horrific attacks.
Christopher Evans, 30, of Fernside Avenue in Huddersfield raped the woman, assaulted her and pulled her hair to the extent her scalp was too sore to brush it. Leeds Crown Court heard.
Judge Robin Mairs told how the woman’s family described her as “outgoing and lovely” but she had become “withdrawn” and “subdued.” He told him: “You called her a ‘stupid s***’ and ‘pathetic.’ At time she felt you were capable of killing her.”
In a victim impact statement, the woman told how “even affection and physical contact from her family can make her flinch.”
A separate incident saw Evans hold the head of a three-month-old child underwater a number of times. The attack was so bad he had to use his finger to get the water out from the tot’s throat.
Evans was found guilty after a trial of controlling behaviour, two counts of actual bodily harm, one of cruelty to a child and two counts of rape.
Mitigating, Matthew Harding told the judge that even though Evans presented a “significant risk” the judge could still draw back from an extended sentence.
He added that “There is work to be done, even with offenders who still issue denials.”
The court heard Evans held previous convictions from 2013 for battery, common assault, criminal damage and the use of an imitation firearm.
After being released in 2014, he then committed further offences of battery and criminal damage and was handed a suspended sentence.
As Judge Mairs handed Evans an extended sentence of 20 years - made up of 16 years’ imprisonment with an extended licence period of four years he told him: “It is clear from the courage that she showed and the strength of her evidence that she was clearly neither worthless or stupid. Your contempt for women and children is almost pathological.”
The judge concluded that Evans is a “dangerous” offender and told him he must serve up to two-thirds of his sentence in prison before going before the Parole Board who will determine when he is safe to release. He has also been ordered to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register indefinitely.