Sunderland Echo

‘Disgusting’ rape of pregnant woman

- By Karon Kelly copydesk.northeast@jpress.co.uk Twitter: @sunderland­echo

A musician who raped a heavily-pregnant woman while she desperatel­y tried to protect her baby bump has been jailed for nine years.

Gavin Carey, whose civil servant fiance is standing by him, ignored his victim’s pleas that her unborn child could be hurt and continued with the shocking attack.

The 28-year-old denied rape, but was convicted by a jury after a trial at Newcastle Crown Court.

Judge Sarah Mallett jailed Carey for nine years and said he must sign the sex offenders’ register for life.

The judge told him: “You got on top of her and you raped her. She tried to push you away and protect herself.

“She tried to tell you you were hurting the baby, as she tried to wriggle away.”

The victim said the attack has had a massive effect on her life.

She said in an impact statement: “I think about it every single day. It has changed me as a person.

“My priority was to protect my baby bump.

“I keep replaying it over and over again in my head, thinking what I could have done differentl­y so this wouldn’t have happened. I feel disgusted and can’t get the image out of my head of the look on his face as he attacked me.

“I still see that face in my head every day.”

The woman said Carey had “crazed, focused and determined” eyes during the attack.

She said she cried for days after the attack and added: “I kept apologisin­g to my baby bump and cried every time I thought about it.

“To do that to someone at their most vulnerable is disgusting and low.

“After my baby was born I felt so guilty.

“I felt it was an attack on both of us.”

The victim said “I have a habit of saying I am OK when I am really not” and that she has been left with trust issues.

Cathy McCulloch, defending, said Carey, originally from South Shields but now of Kellett Close, Washington, has had long-standing mental health problems, which he would self-medicate with drugs in the past, but has now “put his life back on the rails”.

Miss McCulloch said Carey, who was supported by family and friends at court, presents as a “confident and kind” person who has a stack of personal references to his ordinarily kindness and empathy to others.

 ??  ?? Gavin Carey has been jailed for raping a heavily-pregnant woman.
Gavin Carey has been jailed for raping a heavily-pregnant woman.

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