ARREST IN HUNT FOR RAPIST WHO ‘BROADCAST ABUSE OF YOUNG GIRL ONLINE’
Aconvicted rapist awaiting sentencing for subjecting a young girl to 14 years of horrific abuse was arrested on warrant yesterday following a manhunt.
David Hart was absent from Swansea Crown Court yesterday when he was convicted of a string of offences after being admitted to Morriston Hospital.
A jury found him guilty on 16 charges – 12 of rape, two charges of indecent assault, one of assault by penetration and one of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
The defendant could not be contacted yesterday leading to police issuing a photo and appealing for information regarding his whereabouts.
But yesterday evening, a South Wales Police spokesman said officers had arrested Hart earlier in the evening on warrant.
The trial had heard the crimes were committed against one person over a 14 year period.
Hart repeatedly raped his victim, starting when she was just 11 or 12 years old.
She alleged that he subjected her to years of traumatic abuse, including making her have sex with a dog, and broadcast the abuse in internet chatrooms.
Hart, who had denied the charges, had been in court for the duration of the trial, but was admitted to hospital on the morning the jury was due to consider its verdict.
It is believed the 60-year-old disappeared from the hospital, where he was being treated, following the verdict.
Following Hart’s conviction, Judge Geraint Walters rescinded Hart’s bail, which he said meant Hart was “effectively at large”.
He told the court he wanted an update on the reasons he had been admitted to hospital and for police to be contacted immediately with a view to attending him in Morriston.
He added he did not want it to be put “at the top of a to-do list tomorrow”. But the defendant could not be contacted on Wednesday leading to police making the appeal.
During the trial at Swansea Crown Court, the jury heard the victim gave traumatic interviews to police in which she said she blamed herself for being “too afraid” to stop him.
In the interviews, which were summarised in court by Judge Walters, she described what he called “some of the gravest sexual offences”.
She told the police officer: “I blame myself. I never did enough to stop him.
“I had opportunities to stop him but I was too afraid.
“I hate myself. I feel disgusted I let him do these things. I dream of it. Every single night I go through that.”
According to Judge Walters, she said: “He made me have sex with a dog and wanted me to do it again. It got to the point I had to hurt the dog to stop him.
“It was disgusting. I can’t put into words how much that hurt.”
The police spokesman said: “I can confirm that earlier this evening officers arrested David Hart on warrant following enquiries at an address in the Morriston area of Swansea”.