My mother, 14, saw the face of you, her rapist, when she looked at me
A MAN who fathered a child after raping a 13-year-old victim was jailed for 11 years yesterday.
Carvel Bennett, 74, was found guilty of rape after being condemned in court by the daughter born after the attack.
The jury heard his victim had turned 14 when she gave birth to a girl in the 1970s, who was put up for adoption. DNA results later proved Bennett, from Birmingham, was the father.
The daughter’s powerful impact statement was read out in court as he was sentenced.
The woman fathered by the rapist said: “Carvel Bennett, you have caused total carnage. Your act of violence decimated any potential relationship between my birth mother and me because you chose to rape a child.
“You have avoided justice for 45 years. You have got to have a family life, had the opportunity to get married, live with children and see them grow up.
“Because you raped a child, I only had seven days at the
hospital with my birth mother. I read my grandmother visited and thought I looked like you.
“Imagine how it felt for my 14-year-old mother to look down to see the features of her perpetrator. I was left in hospital for three days before being placed with my foster family.
“Who cared for me in that time I will never know. How terrifying. How traumatic.
“I know I exist because you chose to rape a child. To know I’m, for some, the embodiment of one of the worst things to happen, to be pregnant by your perpetrator.
“It could have been a reason for her not to meet me. That horrendous thought weighed heavy until we were able to reunite. I am more than evidence, more than a witness, more than a product of rape.”
She said her fight for justice over the years has caused a “deeper split” between her and her birth mother, which she described as “utterly tragic”.
The woman added: “Because you chose to rape a child we are still paying the price.”
She concluded by telling Bennett: “This sentence is 46 years overdue.The pain you have caused is immeasurable.”
Bennett was found guilty by a jury after less than two hours at Birmingham Crown Court.
Judge Martin Hurst said new guidelines mean Bennett will serve two-thirds of the term in custody before being released on licence. He will also have to sign the sex offenders register for life.