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Teen guilty of 'sinister' crime

From the archive, first published Saturday 6th Aug 2005.

A teenage boy who sexually assaulted a 56-year-old woman with a mental age of eight and performed a sex act in front of an 84-year-old widow was branded "sinister" and "disgraceful" by a judge yesterday.

The 16-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is believed to have "groomed" his victims, whom he attacked in the Florence Park area of Oxford between last October and March this year, because they were elderly and vulnerable.

He was given a three-year supervision order at Oxford Crown Court and told that if he was older, he would have been locked up for a long time.

The court heard how the boy, who lives in Oxford, had watched the 56-year-old woman from a friend's bedroom and knew she was "strange in some way". On March 12, he knocked at her door and, once inside, carried out two sex acts.

On October 23 last year, he pushed his way in to the home of the 84-year-old widow before exposing himself and attempting to carry out a sex act.

The boy admitted the four charges -- trespassing with intent to commit a sexual offence, exposure and two related counts of sexual activity with a person with a mental disorder.

His family sobbed as Recorder Julian Hall told him: "When you were 15 you committed these four quite disgraceful offences and although you are not very clever, I am sure you know what disgraceful means. You frightened these ladies with whom you had some form of sexual activity.

"If you were two to three years older I would lock you up for a long time, but I am not going to do that. Some people might say that I should, but I just want to explain what would happen if I did. You would go to a young offenders' institution where you would be left to stew in your own juices. You would not be helped and your ways would get quite deeply ingrained. That would be a very regrettable way to treat a 16-year-old.

"What you did was bizarre. It was sinister, it was frightening, but it was also unheralded.

"I have no doubt that if you are not helped you will maintain your skewed view of the world and your problem would become more deeply ingrained.

"I am certain that the best chance of protecting people from you in the future is to let doctors help you."

The boy will undergo treatment with psychiatrist Dr Lynda Meina, who has already begun working with him and described him as "a challenge".

He will also undertake a 90-day sex offenders' programme and will be electronically tagged. His father and stepmother were given a 12-month parenting order.

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