A MAN has been jailed for 9½ years for raping and assaulting a woman.
David Nigel Pearce (41) was convicted last year of two counts of rape and two assault charges following a ten-day trial in the Royal Court, and he was found not guilty of three further charges.
Pearce attempted to appeal against his conviction but his bid was rejected last month by the Court of Appeal.
The Royal Court heard yesterday that Pearce raped the woman when she was in a vulnerable state and assaulted her by strangling and kicking her.
Crown Advocate Simon Thomas, prosecuting, described how Pearce grabbed the woman’s throat and forced himself on her sexually.
“She resisted and fought back as much as she could,” he said. “He was bigger and stronger than she was.”
The court heard how the woman was in a vulnerable state when Pearce raped her.
The woman told the jury during the trial that she felt “disgusted” after the rapes.
During the first of the two assaults, Pearce “placed his hands firmly around her throat” and shoved her, the court heard.
On another occasion, he kicked her to the “stomach and chest area”. After she asked him to leave, he kicked her again and left the room.
“He grabbed [the woman’s] throat and held her there,” Advocate Thomas said.
The woman was found to have abrasions on the chest and forearm, tenderness on the back of the head, and bruising to her wrists and fingers. The prosecution asked for an 11-year sentence.
The woman had symptoms of PTSD, the court heard, though the defence argued that these could be caused in part by other traumatic events.
Advocate Paul Nicholls, defending, argued that the psychology report should be treated with “considerable caution”.
He said that more than 100 character references had been supplied to the court and highlighted a “strong family network”, with many attending the court to support Pearce.
Representing himself in court with the assistance of Advocate Nicholls, Pearce read out a letter in which he continued to deny the offences, saying: “I can’t in good conscience plead guilty to something I haven’t done.”
He added: “I will have to serve my time but I am confident that I will become a valuable member of society upon release.”
He was sentenced to nine years and six months in prison.
Commissioner Alan Binnington was presiding, and Jurats Austin-Vautier, Le Heuzé, Opfermann, Entwistle and Berry were sitting.
