Nearly half a century after a woman was raped on her way home from Girl Guides, the rapist has been caught and charged. Denis Coles, who was 26 at the time of the attack, has been charged with rape. Previously, he has been deemed unfit to plead due to cognitive impairment, meaning he has difficulty processing and understanding information. Coles was found guilty in a trial of facts, which means he can only be found guilty of the act rather than a criminal offense. The jury found that Coles raped the girl in Cardiff in 1977. The victim, who remains anonymous, has said that she is still “going through hell”.
South Wales Police reopened the case in 2019, using new DNA techniques to re-examine samples which pointed to Coles. Though he cannot be convicted of a criminal offense, he has been ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register and given a two-year supervision order by Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke.
The victim stated that the assault was “the most traumatic night of my life” and that “my childhood was taken from me in the blink of an eye”. She expressed the belief that Coles knew exactly what he was doing when he attacked and raped her.
After the attack, Coles ordered the victim to count to 50 before she moved while he rode off. She then ran home and told her mother what had happened. Someone from the area was arrested, but was found not guilty when the case went to court.
The victim has said she was “blown away” by police catching her attacker after all these years. She acknowledged that while she understood why Coles could not be convicted, she believed that justice had not been served
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