A rapist who abused two teenage girls was ‘not prepared to take no for an answer’.
Dean Hodges, 24, raped and attempted to rape his first victim. He then went onto commit offences of sexual assault and assault by penetration against his second victim.
Manchester Crown Court heard that both had suffered horrendous ordeals. “The only person responsible for the very long sentence that you have to serve is you yourself, because of the way you sexually mistreated both of these girls,” Judge Suzanne Goddard KC told Hodges, as she sentenced him to 11 years in prison.
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“You are a man who when it came to sexual encounters with these two girls, you were simply not prepared to take no for an answer.” Hodges, from Oldham, was 19 when he abused his first victim, when she was 15. His second victim was 16, when the defendant was 20-years-old.
The judge commended the courage displayed by both victims for pursuing their case through a ‘lengthy’ court process. The first victim bravely gave her statement in court, in front of Hodges as he sat in the dock.
She said: “I spent many years wanting to end my life, wondering why he would do this to me.” The woman said she has suffered panic attacks and flashbacks.
Addressing Hodges, she added: “It has taken me many years to come to the realisation of what you have done. You made me question my own self. After years of battling myself I understand I have done nothing wrong.”
In a statement read on her behalf by prosecutor Jonathan Savage, the second victim said there had been an occasion when she was physically sick, after seeing someone who looked like Hodges.
Reading her statement, Mr Savage continued: “She scrubs her body until her skin is red raw on occasions. She says the defendant ruined her life, and what he did to her will always be with her, and that her life will not be the same again.
“She feels safer now the defendant is in prison, she says, but still feels anxiety.” The court was told that Hodges had experienced a ‘difficult upbringing’.
Defending, Gwen Henshaw said Hodges has been using cannabis since the age of 18, and his use of the drug had ‘clouded everything’. “Since he has been remanded in custody, that cloud has been lifted,” Ms Henshaw said. “That has been a real awakening for him.”
She said of the defendant: “He is an immature young man who has behaved very badly. But he has a long way to go. He is prepared to make the effort to rehabilitate himself. “
Hodges, of Durden Mews, Shaw, Oldham, was found guilty of rape and attempted rape of the first victim, and found guilty of offences of sexual assault and assault by penetration against his second victim.