Groom Who Raped Stranger Hours Before Wedding is Jailed

A 28 year old man has been handed a life sentence for sexual assault after he raped a woman just hours before he was due to get married in January this year.

Derry McCann, 28, raped a woman, 24, as she walked back from an art show in East London. Snaresbrook Crown Court heard how McCann dragged his victim into Victoria Park and subjected her to a two hour long sexual attack, in which he raped her and stole her bra and mobile phone.

Sexual assault – 2006 Attack

The court also heard how McCann was on parole at the time of the January attack. He was jailed in 2006 for sexually assaulting another woman in nearby Mile End Park, in an extremely similar incident.

McCann was just 17 at the time of the 2006 incident and alleged that the sex was consensual. However, he was convicted of one count of robbery, two of sexual assault, one of sexual assault by penetration, one of causing a person to engage in sexual activity, six counts of rape and one of attempted rape.

McCann was sentenced to life in prison, serving a minimum of 3,094 days, but he appealed and was released on parole in December 2015.

Sexual assault – Second incident

Prosecuting, Kate Bex QC told the court that McCann had been drinking with his girlfriend and family in a pub on the night of the latest sexual assault, before leaving for Victoria Park shortly before midnight. CCTV footage captured him following another woman before the one he attacked.

The court heard how he subjected his victim to demeaning sexual acts during a “long drawn out psychological game”, repeatedly asking her “what are we doing”. Bex added that when his victim replied “you are raping me” he appeared to like hearing the phrase.

Arrest & sentencing

McCann was arrested for the sexual assault in January due to the ‘striking’ similarities to the 2006 attack. He pleaded guilty to three counts of rape, sexual assault by penetration and robbery.

Judge Martyn Zeidman, sentencing, told the court McCann would not be considered for parole for at least nine years, adding that it may never happen.

“The parole board will need to appreciate that in my view you are, and are likely to remain, an exceptionally dangerous violent criminal who poses the most dire [sic] risk to women even after the expiry of the minimum term.”

The judge went on to say he was sending a copy of his remarks directly to the board.

Judge Zeidman said:

“Friday 13 January 2017 is a date that your victim will never forget. You behaved as a monster. Raping the victim in every possible way, and doing it in a manner that amounted to torture. Playing mind games, asking her what she thought you were going to do next and taunting her for almost two hours.

“In addition to the physical pain you set out to degrade and humiliate her in ways that are so cruel and gross that I will not identify them any further. I am worried that you might even relish a recital of them.

“Just hours later you married your pregnant girlfriend. I just wonder what sentence you would impose if someone had done this to your wife or female friends.

“This wrongdoing is made even worse by the serious violence that you have carried out before.”

He added that the 2006 offence was a “further horrendous rape with many aggravating features”. The Judge told McCann he had taken his guilty plea and remorse into account when sentencing.

Sexual assault & abuse compensation claims – expert advice

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Source: Guardian