PENSIONER JAILED FOR TEEN SEX ATTACK
72-YEAR-OLD PREYED ON YOUNG WOMAN HE FOUND IN A CITY UNDERPASS
A PENSIONER sexually assaulted a vulnerable teenager he found on the street after telling her she “reminded him of his daughter”.
Thomas Mullen, 72, came across his victim while walking his dog through a Cardiff underpass just days before Christmas last year.
He invited her back to his home in Llanedeyrn for a hot drink but when they got there he locked the door and carried out a “frightening” sexual assault, later claiming the woman wanted to have sex with him because she had inadvertently licked her lips.
The defendant was later found guilty of sexual assault.
A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court heard Mullen’s victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, considered suicide following the attack.
The court heard Mullen persuaded the woman to come back to his house by telling her she “reminded him of his daughter” and told her he had a wife at home, which was untrue.
When they got back to Mullen’s flat in Lincoln Court the defendant asked the woman if she wanted a drink or cannabis, which she declined.
After the woman had inadvertently licked her lips Mullen moved closer and asked her to spend the night.
Mullen then put his hand on her leg and forcibly kissed her and the woman told him she was going to leave but the defendant said “no” and told her they would “have some fun”.
He then moved himself on top of her, groped her and kissed her again. She tried to push him off but she was unable to.
Mullen then proceeded to sexually assault the woman.
He refused to stop the attack despite his victim crying and telling him to stop. He also exposed himself to her.
The victim was able to text a friend and, once the friend phoned back, she was able to make an excuse to leave, and reported the matter.
When arrested, Mullen denied sexually assaulting the woman and claimed that she had followed him home and had sexually assaulted him.
Defence barrister John Ryan told the court that his client Mullen was a father and grandfather and had lost his partner to breast cancer in 2006.
He said the defendant had a clear pattern of alcohol misuse since 2000.
Sentencing Judge Tracey LloydClarke said: “Her vulnerability was extreme and the severe psychological harm caused to her was extreme.”
Mullen was sentenced to a total of 12 years’ imprisonment and was ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for life.
Following Mullen’s conviction, his victim read out her victim personal statement in the court from behind a curtain at the sentencing hearing.
She said had been suffering from mental health problems for many years prior to the assault but was beginning to turn her life around but that had now been set back.
Despite her ordeal the woman said she would refuse to let the assault be her “downfall in life” but to use it as a reminder of her strengths.