A teenage rapist who crushed his victim’s head with a concrete block was sentenced to life in prison on Friday, Feb. 16.
He smiled as the sentence was read.
Charlie Pearce of Leicester, England decided to celebrate turning 17 by attacking and raping his victim.
When he was done, he dragged her bloodied body into some bushes to hide her.
The injured woman laid there for an hour before a passing cyclist saw a pool of blood and investigated.
The woman, whose name will not be released, spent the next two weeks in a medically induced coma. She had multiple skull fractures and bleeding on her brain.
Closed-circuit security cameras in the park caught Pearce as he fled the scene, the bloody paving stone still in his hand.
Pearce received a life sentence—but the minimum time he must serve is 11 years. He could be back on the street before he turns 30.
No Defense, No Explanation
Pearce, who lived in Leicester’s sophisticated Clarendon Park neighborhood, near the University of Leicester turned 17 in July 2017.He was tried in Leicester Crown Court and found guilty in December of that year. After a three-day trial, the jury only deliberated for three hours.
His only defense was that he did not mean to kill her—a statement delivered by his lawyer.
Pearce never took the stand in his own defense.
Violent Internet Pornography
During the trial, it was revealed that Pearce had spent weeks prior to the attack watching violent pornography on the internet before finally acting out what he saw online.“You’ve seen the Internet searches; it’s a disturbing fixation manifested in his interest to look at warped pornography and violent assault of helpless young women,” Aspden continued. “An attack of this type had been festering in the back of his mind. He was seen running into the park carrying something heavy under his arm. He went to attack that woman armed with that weapon.”
People Heard the Screams
The judge, Mr. Justice Haddon-Cave held off on sentencing so he could study the case. the Leicester Mercury reported. The defendant’s age, his background, and the violence of the attack were all factors.So too was the tearful statement read by his victim.
Pearce’s victim did not recall what had happened when she woke up. Only after reading police accounts of the investigation did she learn that she had been screaming intensely—and that many people had heard her.
She told the court that the attack had robbed her of part of her life, but even more, it had permanently damaged her and the remainder of her life. She is in her mid-20s.
“The six months which have now passed since I was discharged from hospital amounts to an ongoing period of time that can never be gotten back, time which has been taken from me and from how I live my life, without my permission and against my wishes,” she said.
“I am reminded on a daily basis—and sometimes multiple times a day—of the extensive trauma my body has endured and my mind cannot remember happening to me.”
She said that even though she did not remember the attack, just knowing what had happened to her, and seeing and feeling the mental and physical scars, made it hard for her to carry on with life.
“I have had thoughts about hurting myself and ending my life because I feel that I cannot live with the knowledge I have that what happened to me has happened to me.”
Pearce received his life sentence on the charge of intent to murder. He was also given two concurrent seven-year, six-month sentences for the two rapes.
His victim, sadly, has been given a life sentence of pain.
