Sex beast Joe Street jailed for 10 years after raping elderly woman in Gravesend
by Lynn Cox
A sex beast has today been jailed for 10
years after raping an elderly woman in her late 70s.
Joe Street, 20, claimed he had drunk 13 cans of lager and could
not remember attacking the pensioner in Gravesend last
June.
The court heard he slapped the woman as she tried to fight
him off - and told her he had been in prison for a year
and "hadn't had any".
Jailing Street (pictured right) at Maidstone Crown Court
today, a judge branded his behaviour "appalling".
Judge Jeremy Carey told him: "This had a great
psychological effect on the woman - and she was an elderly
lady.
"She had to go through the trauma of an HIV test. Your conduct
on that day was appalling."
Street was given a 10-year jail sentence, but will serve
half the term on licence - plus an extended licence period of six
years.
He will also be on the sex offenders' register for
life.
The victim, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, later
told police she realised she had no choice but to stop struggling
with Street.
"All I could do was just let it happen. I feel awful but I didn't know what else to do..." – Joe Street's elderly victim
In a video interview played to the jury, she said: "I tried to
push him away and tried to grab his face and he slapped me on the
head and said: 'No.'
"I thought, 'back off'. I didn't want to get a good hiding
because he was a big fella and could knock me for six.
"All I could do was just let it happen. I feel awful but I
didn't know what else to do."
Street, who upon his release from prison had been bailed to live
with a relative in Jenkins Dale, Chatham, denied rape and
chose not to give evidence.
It was claimed by his legal team that he was drunk and could not
recall the incident.
However, tests revealed he had no alcohol in his system.
Jurors found him guilty of rape within just 15 minutes after his
trial in November.
The court heard the pensioner noticed Street exposing his
genitals and "playing with himself". Having been pushed downwards,
the woman said she was made to take off her right trouser leg.
She recalled Street then removed her trousers completely "so he
could do it better".
At the end of her ordeal, which lasted two to three minutes, she
recalled Street telling her: "It'll be all right". He then fled and
the woman phoned the police.
Joe Street was sentenced
at Maidstone Crown Court
A recording of her distressed 999 call was played to the jury
and she told police that before he left, Street had searched
through her cardigan pockets as if looking for a phone.
A DNA profile that matched Street was later found on the woman.
The chances of it belonging to anyone else were said to be
one-in-a-billion, the court heard.
The woman also suffered injuries including cuts or tears to her
genital area and a bruise to her inner left knee.
She denied during cross-examination that she had consented, or
given the impression that she was consenting, to having sex with
Street.
Street, who was 19 at the time, was arrested and when
interviewed made no comment to the "overwhelming majority" of the
questions, said Mark Cotter, prosecuting.
However, when told it had been alleged he had been touching
himself before raping the pensioner, he replied: "That's
disgusting. This interview is disgusting."
Street has a string of previous convictions, but none of a
sexual nature.
DC Zoe Traynor, from Kent Police, said: "This was a case whereby
Street used his strength for his own satisfaction.
"It was an horrific sexual crime and the speed of which the jury
came to its decision only serves to highlight the evidence
presented to them in this case.
"The victim is likely to never get over this but is a
strong-willed and immensely brave woman who, with the support of
her family, is moving on with her life."
07/02/13
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