Parental and child rapists have been brought to justice decades after sexually abusing and assaulting girls.
One of the victims, Arthur William Bowditch, 73, was only three years old when he raped her, leaving her so badly injured that she needed surgery. Bowditch’s son, Arthur Stephen Bowditch, now 54, has grown to be a sex offender and child rapist, but there is no evidence that they have offended together.
The men appeared in the Swansea Crown Court Defendants’ Court for having previously been convicted of multiple counts of rape and assault on the modesty of girls in the 1980s and 1990s.
The court learned that the girls who were raped by William Bowditch were only three years old and it was decided that they needed surgery to repair the damaged tissue after the assault. He also sexually assaulted a girl with a rough wooden object. One of the girls raped by Stephen Bowditch – somewhere off the west coast of Wales – had called for help during the assault, but her stepfather had not heard her screams due to the sound of the cutting machine. the grass. Read about a pensioner who traveled to Swansea with massage oil, a vibrator and Viagra to have sex with a 13-year-old girl he had cared for online.
The court heard statements from Bowditches victims detailing the emotional, psychological, and physical effects of their abuse, including post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and suicide attempts. One said she had been a victim but was now a survivor, and confronting her abuser was her way of regaining control of her life; another said that the “degrading” things that were done to her when she was a girl had taken away her childhood but that she had forgiven her abuser so that she could forget, let go of her hatred and not let the accused. ” it would take my life longer. ” One of the victims described her as a liar and did not believe her when she first reported the abuse.
Arthur William Bowditch, now of Selby Crescent, Swindon, Wiltshire, and Arthur Stephen Bowditch, now of Morse Close, Chippenham, Wiltshire, had been convicted before the trial when they appeared together in the dock. Bowditch Jnr has a previous 1989 conviction for assault on modesty by a girl under the age of 14.
A previous sentencing hearing had to be postponed after Bowditch Snr failed to show up even though his wife had dropped him off at Swindon train station that morning. Detectives familiar with the case were sent to Swansea station to check CCTV, and the court learned that no trace of the accused had been found or that there was no evidence that he had gone on the train that was supposed to had taken. The late sentencing hearing was told that Bowditch had made a mistake by train to Swindon and, instead of traveling to Swansea, had arrived in Bristol where he had “hired people on the street” before falling into the harbor. . He then returned home where he was arrested early the next morning by Wilshire police and arrested.
Judge Huw Rees said the defendants’ victims had been “denied childhood” for their actions, and said the women’s statements had been “heartbreaking” to hear. He said it was clear that the abuse inflicted by the defendants had profoundly affected the women. The judge said William Bowditch had acted for “degenerate and unhealthy sexual lust.”
William Bowditch received an extended 21-year sentence that includes 20 years in prison, followed by an extended one-year license. Stephen Bowditch was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Both will be registered sex offenders for the rest of their lives.
Defendants’ custody photographs are not available.
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