UK Teenager Charged With Raping 90-Year-Old

A teenager who raped a woman in her 90s in the hall of her home has
been jailed for 16 years at Newport Crown Court.

Lee-Joseph Dixon, 18, forced his way into the house in Ely, Cardiff,
as he made his way home from a party at 4am in May.

He "had not one ounce of pity" for his victim in the attack, the judge said.

Dixon, from Ely, admitted raping the widowed grandmother and will
serve a minimum of eight years and be on the sex offenders register
for life.

As she was attacked, the woman asked him: "Why is a young man like you
raping an old woman like me?"

John Lloyd, prosecuting, told the court Dixon has been drinking at the
party this year, and began knocking on doors as he walked to his home
300 metres away.

The woman was in her dressing gown and barefoot when she opened the
door of the house.

Dixon told her there was an emergency and forced his way into the
property as soon as the door was opened.

After the attack, the woman called 999. Officers found her shaking in
the hallway still clutching the phone.

The woman was in hospital for two weeks but now lives in a care home
as she was unable to return to her home, where she had lived since she
was a child.

In a statement to the court, her son said: "I am constantly surprised
that this did not kill her.

"We are struggling to come to terms with how a young man can do such
an horrific violating act to an old woman in her own home where she is
meant to feel safest."

Judge DJ Hale told Dixon: "You wanted to satisfy your sexual urges and
you had not one ounce of pity for your victim."

He said, "This is a particularly horrifying attack. You have blighted
what remains of her life.

"Your victim was a fiercely independent woman who was living alone in
the home where she had lived for most of her life, surrounded by her
memories and possessions.

"It takes a great deal of courage to live alone at that age. But you
ruined that for that night when you rang her doorbell.

"You have caused real physical and psychological harm."

Dixon admitted rape but said he had no memory of the attack.

South Wales Police Det Insp Stuart Wales said Dixon was arrested
within 72 hours of the "dreadful attack" that "understandably caused a
lot of public concern, particularly within the Ely community".

He said, "Stranger attacks on women, such as this one, are extremely rare.

"As with any such similar incident, when they do occur we have
specialist officers to investigate these crimes and work closely with
partner agencies to provide support to rape victims.

"This has been a life-altering experience but one where the victim and
her family have shown remarkable emotional strength in dealing with
what happened to her."