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Jail for Medway man who raped 13-year-old girl in a ditch

18:46, 19 November 2019

updated: 19:36, 19 November 2019

A woman raped by two men on separate occasions as a child today saw her latest attacker brought to justice.

Cameron Barnes, 27, raped his 13-year-old victim in a woodland ditch, a "dingy shed", and in two Kent homes.

Cameron Barnes has been jailed. Picture: Kent Police
Cameron Barnes has been jailed. Picture: Kent Police

He argued his victim, now in her 20s, was a "compulsive liar" and denied four counts of rape and a sexual assault.

But a jury today took 16 hours and 44 minutes to convict the predator on all five charges, prompting a judge to give the deviant a piece of his mind.

Judge Rupert Lowe said the evidence was "extremely clear and straight-forward" before jailing the predator for 15 years.

The victim's first attacker was jailed in 2013 after pleading guilty to rape and multiple sexual offences at Canterbury Crown Court.

Judge Lowe added: "One of the reasons she was used to it is because this poor girl had previously been raped.

"Sexual abuse must have been part of life for that young girl."

Barnes, of Luton Road in Chatham, shook his head before sobbing in the dock after the verdicts were announced.

His friends and family could be heard gasping as the majority verdicts were read.

The paedophile isolated the girl, then raped her in a public park playing 'Hide and Seek', a filthy shed and homes in Strood and Whitstable.

He also sexually assaulted her in a home in Canterbury.

Touching footage of the survivor describing the assaults to police officers was played in court after she reported the attacks.

"Sexual abuse must have been part of life for that young girl" - judge Rupert Lowe

Asked about the first time she was raped, the woman, then 17 and who cannot be named for legal reasons, replied: “I really didn’t want to do it I said I didn’t want to do it - I said no a few times and he said ‘it’s alright it’s alright'.”

“Did he speak about it at all afterwards?” the officer asked.

“Not really,” she explained.

The victim explained Barnes said "just do it with me please" while raping her in a ditch, and again inside a shed strewn with so much rubbish the "door could not close".

When she took to the witness stand, Barnes' barrister David Osborne argued there were similarities between her allegations in the first and second cases.

He accused the victim of levelling some of the same accusations made in 2013 onto Barnes.

“I’m going to be suggesting that you are making it up, do you agree with me?” he asked.

“No.” she replied from behind a screen, stood meters from her attacker in the dock.

“Have you taken an event that happened with your previous attacker and applied it to Cameron?” he asked.

“No.” she said.

Canterbury Crown Court
Canterbury Crown Court

Under cross-examination, Barnes told prosecutor Tom Dunn his victim would "sometimes lie about a lot of things."

But the barrister replied: "I suggest that the girl has told the truth and you are the one who is lying and you behaved towards her exactly as she alleged."

Mr Dunn added: "Why did you buy her racy underwear?"

"I never bought her underwear," Barnes said.

He denied raping the girl in a shed, telling the prosecutor it was strewn with so much rubbish the door could never close, despite opening outwards.

Barnes has previous convictions for common assault against a former partner, failure to surrender to the courts, driving while disqualified and without insurance.

Judge Lowe also handed the paedophile a restraining order against his victim and a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years.

Detective constable Emily Hooper, Kent Police's investigating officer for the case, said: "Despite the victim's age, and repeatedly being told it was against her wishes, Barnes subjected her to continual sexual abuse.

"It took a huge amount of courage to report his offending and face him in court, when he chose to call her character into question rather than admit his appalling crimes.

"I am pleased that we have secured justice for her and hope this result encourages other victims of unreported sexual abuse to get in contact with us so we can support them and pursue justice."

Read more: All the latest news from Medway

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