A Haverfordwest PAEDOPHILE Richard Lewis who sexually abused and raped a young girl for several years from the age of four has been jailed.
Richard Lewis, 50, previously of Haverfordwest, was found guilty earlier this week of sexually abusing a child between 2004 and 2009.
Lewis had been charged with six charges of attacking a child by penetration – all while the girl was between four and eight years old and with attempted sexual assault of the same child while she was between eight and twelve years old.
He denied all charges, but the jury came back to find Richard Lewis guilty on five of the five sexual assault allegations following just over two hours of deliberations. He was declared not guilty of the other offences.
Victim said in a statement by prosecutor Craig Jones: “I feel haunted by what [Richard Lewis] had done.”
“Nothing exists that could reverse this.
“The impact is permanent and something I will have to live with forever.”
The jury at trial had been informed that Richard Lewis, now of Priory Street in Carmarthen, sexually attacked the boy in a field, around the rear of a garage complex and in his car.
Mr. Jones informed the court that the victim had suffered in many different ways from the abuse, including difficulty approaching the driver’s side of a vehicle.
Judge Paul Thomas KC remarked, “She is a young woman whose entire life has been pervaded.”
“It penetrates every sphere of her life.”
Richard Lewis bought his victim “treats,” including candies, ice lollies, and ice creams, so grooming her, the jury heard during the trial.
The victim told her parents what had happened when she was in her teens, following sex education in her school; however, “was adamant she didn’t want to report it,” at the time.
Richard Lewis was arrested on March 6, 2022, and once more interviewed on August 26, 2022.
In mitigating terms, paedophile lawyer Ieuan Rees remarked that Richard Lewis “was a respectable member of the community” until these crimes were revealed.
With one unconnected past offence and no recorded reoffending, since this abuse stopped, Mr Rees claimed the defendant was of past good character.
“He has two children of his own, aged seven and four,” he stated.
“He has been a loving parent to them.”
Dealing with Lewis, Judge Thomas remarked: “You started to methodically sexually abuse [the victim] when she was just four years old.”
“You meticulously planned your attack, isolating her and rendering her defenceless.”
Richard Lewis was sentenced to fourteen years in jail, with a one-year licence period added. Lewis has to register as a lifetime sex offender; the victim was given a 15-year restraining order against him.
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