A 27-year-old technician has been jailed for nine years after pleading guilty to five sexual offences involving a boy, in a case the sentencing judge said had caused severe harm. The sentence was imposed at the High Court on 23 October 2026.
The offences comprised three counts of unlawful anal intercourse and two indecent-act offences involving a child under 16. The reported offending spanned 2020 to May 2023, when the boy was aged 11 to 14.
Court reports said the boy was staying overnight at the defendant’s home when, aged 11, he woke with pain and felt the defendant sexually assaulting him, but pretended to be asleep. The following day, the defendant told him what had happened; because he was young, the boy thought he was joking. There were further episodes of anal intercourse and two occasions when the defendant made him perform oral sex. During an assault in May 2023, the boy repeatedly told the defendant to stop, but the defendant ignored him.
The judge criticised the defendant for portraying the abuse as “brothers playing”, saying he had distorted its exploitative nature and showed limited empathy for the boy. The judge said the defendant’s own reported experience of sexual activity at boarding school could not justify harming someone else.
The boy’s psychological report described his trauma as severe. It said he had to leave school, had self-harmed and had shown suicidal behaviour. His mother described a change from an outgoing child to one who became socially withdrawn and anxious.
A separate psychological report assessed the technician as having a high risk of reoffending. It said he needed long-term, intensive psychological treatment.