‘Everyone was forced to take sides - and nobody chose me’
A TEENAGE girl has been forced to move away from her own home after being raped by a family friend.
The youngster was raped by Eric Stevenson, who attacked her while his wife was attending a Sunday church service, a court heard.
Despite 53-year-old Stevenson being trapped by DNA evidence, locals in the girl’s neighbourhood took sides with him and she was forced to moved away as a result.
The victim said she now feels ‘sick and ashamed’ about what happened.
She said she is too terrified to sleep at night in her new home.
The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, spoke out in a harrowing statement as Stevenson, from Rochdale, was jailed for 12 years.
She told Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court: “I have decided to speak so my abuser knows exactly how he made me feel because I’m sure he could see it in my eyes.
“I have been scared to open up on my feelings but it was thought it might help give me closure and look forward.”
She added: “I have lost my friends as everyone around me was forced to take sides – and nobody chose me.
“I still feel so alone. I hate myself for feeling vulnerable and when I think about what happened to me, I feel sick and ashamed.
“I do not want to be a girl who has been abused. I want to be a normal teenager who goes out with their friends but now I am too afraid. I am afraid of the dark and I am scared to leave the house.
“When I do, I look behind me every 10 or so seconds. No one understands.
“My mum bought me a night light which I keep on because I’m afraid of the dark.
“This has helped but I still struggle to sleep some nights as I go over what has happened to me.
“I feel like I’m in a nightmare when I’m both awake and asleep. I’ve been made to feel worthless, angry, sad and hurt. I have lost everything.
“I am so alone with my thoughts that I have thought about ending things. I know that isn’t the way, I just want the pain to stop.”
The investigation began in October 2019 after the girl spoke to a teacher at her school, the court heard. She told her she had been raped the previous weekend.
Jonathan Savage, prosecuting, said: “The defendant was interviewed by police officers and asked to comment on the allegations the complainant had made but denied he had done anything to her.
“But the clothing she had been wearing over the course of the previous weekend was seized from her and this included the shorts she had been wearing. When the shorts were analysed, DNA was found on the inside of the front of the shorts and a trace of the defendant’s DNA was found on them.”
Stevenson, who joined his wife at the church after the attack, denied rape and assault but was convicted after a trial.
William Donnelly, defending, said: “This defendant is a man who has reached his mid-50s and who has significant health problems.
“’He is a man of no previous convictions and a sentence of imprisonment will hit him hard and have lasting effects on him and his life.”
Sentencing, Judge Paul Lawton told Stevenson: “What you did to her was quite appalling. It happened in her home, which she should have regarded as an entirely safe fair haven. As a consequence, she was compelled to leave in the days after what happened.
“What you did to her will have caused incalculable damage for the rest of her life.”
After his release from jail, Stevenson will be on licence for an extra two years under the terms of an extended sentence. He was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register for life.
What you did to her will have caused incalculable damage for the rest of her life Judge Paul Lawton