Cardiff burglar jailed for life for rape of mother and daughter

A burglar who raped a mother and her 14-year-old daughter after forcing his way into their Cardiff home while high on the drug spice has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 10 years.

Joshua Carney, 28, carried out the random attack at around 6.45am on the morning of March 1 this year while the mother was getting ready for work and her daughter was asleep upstairs.

Carney, who is described as a career burglar, had only been released from prison five days earlier, having served half of an eight-year sentence for breaking into six homes around Cardiff.

At his sentencing hearing on Monday, Cardiff Crown Court heard that the older victim had gone to her front door when she heard Carney try the handle and then the letter box.

She stepped out into the street only to see the defendant, dishevelled and barefoot, hiding around the side of her house.

The victim tried to back towards her front door, but Carney asked her to call him a taxi.

Carney then forced his way into her home and locked himself inside, punching her repeatedly to the face before raping her in her living room.

Prosecutor Ieuan Bennett said: “The defendant told the victim ‘stop f****** screaming or I am going to stab you’.

“She at that point didn’t know if the defendant was armed or not and became very concerned she and her daughter were going to end up seriously injured, if not killed, by the defendant.”

Confronted

The teenager had managed to call the police when she heard her mother being attacked, telling the call handler she believed her mother had been stabbed.

Carney then tried to break into the young girl’s room, before her mother told her to open it, fearing they both might be murdered if they did not comply with his wishes.

The defendant snatched the younger victim’s phone and realised she must have called police.

He then raped both of them in the mother’s room, and also violently sexually assaulted the girl.

Carney then tried to leave the property, only to be confronted by the blue lights of police cars when he opened the front door.

Fearing they might end up in a hostage situation, the mother offered to show him out of the back door and unlock the back gate.

She told police of her terror at having to walk through the kitchen where the knives were on show.

Carney was confronted by two officers when he stepped out of the back gate and immediately arrested.

He was taken to hospital, claiming to be high on spice and telling police he had no memory of the incident.

Whilst in custody, he told officers: “Those f****** little sluts probably called me into their house.”

He later said: “When will the swabs be coming back because my memory is starting to come back? I’m innocent so obviously it’s going to be proved.”

‘Sustained’

Carney initially denied wrongdoing, and refused to answer questions in interview, but later pleaded guilty to six counts of rape, one count of attempted rape and two counts of assault by penetration.

He further admitted two counts of causing actual bodily harm, committing an offence with intent to commit a sexual offence, namely theft of the daughter’s mobile phone.

In statements read to the court, the two victims said they had been plagued by nightmares and lack of sleep and had been forced to leave their home and neighbourhood in the wake of the attack.

The daughter said she can no longer be at home by herself and is terrified by the company of men, and no longer participates in any of her former activities, and that her school work is suffering.

Both said they were wracked with guilt at being unable to prevent the attack on the other.

Jailing him for life with a minimum term of 10 years, Tracey Lloyd-Clarke, the Recorder of Cardiff, said: “Your overall offending lasted for about 15 minutes but it was repeated and sustained violence and threats of violence, the daughter was particularly vulnerable because of her youth.”

She continued: “(The attack) was deliberately sadistic and no doubt done to satisfy your perverted sexual desires and your abusive sexual remarks are indicative of your attitude – one of the rapes was punishment for phoning the police.”

Judge Lloyd-Clarke acknowledged Carney was under the influence of drugs, but remarked his actions such as locking the front door and taking the daughters phone indicated “you were very much in control of what you were doing and your actions were thought through”.

“Your offending on that day was horrific, it was the stuff of nightmares,” she added.