Sonny Boyes – Exeter

An arrogant egotistical sexual predator from Exeter has been told that he likely poses a real danger to all females after a series of courtroom outbursts after being found guilty.

Sonny Boyes, 19, raped a teenager in bushes near a car park and then sexually assaulted a second victim as she walked to catch a train in May this year.

Boyes, of no fixed address, was convicted of nine out of the ten charges he faced. He was acquitted of a single charge of oral rape.

The teen boasted to police who arrested him that he was a ‘stud’ who did not need to force women into sex because he was ‘so good looking.’

But a jury saw through his lies and convicted him of two rapes, four assaults by penetration and three sexual assaults.

Judge James Patrick said at the conclusion of the trial that he was concerned about the possible danger Boyes poses to women.

He adjourned sentence for pre-sentence reports and said he wanted Boyes to be assessed by psychiatrists due to his erratic behaviour throughout the trial.

During the trial, Boyes interrupted on several occasions with outbursts against his accusers.

He was angered by accusations that he ignored the victims’ repeated pleas for him to stop assaulting them, saying their accounts were ‘a big fat f*** off lie’.

Boyes made more complaints saying he would appeal the verdict to a higher authority and was ‘not a wrongun’.

The jury was told that Boyes has previous conviction for exposing his genitals in Cathedral Green.

Judge Patrick said: “Your behaviour and presentation during the trial caused me great concern and my preliminary view is that you are a dangerous young man. You will be sentenced after Christmas.”

The trial heard the assaults happened within minutes of each other. Boyes, described as a ‘highly sexualised’ young man by the prosecution, had been drinking in Exeter city centre earlier in the day before travelling to Digby.

At about 9pm he bumped into his first victim. The 16-year-old girl had met briefly him for the first time earlier that day.

He asked her to hold some beer cans and walked into bushes near the Digby park and ride car park.

He asked the girl: “Do you want me to rape you?” She told the jury she just laughed thinking he was joking. He forced her to perform oral sex and then raped her in the bushes.

The pair were disturbed by some boys looking for a football. CCTV captured the girl running from the bushes in tears. She returned home in a hysterical state and police were alerted.

Boyes emerged from the trees and briefly spoke to a security guard in the car park. A few minutes later he encountered his second victim as she walked to Digby and Sowton train station.

He introduced himself by saying he had ‘done another girl’ in bushes’ earlier that day

He asked the 17-year-old if he could use the hotspot data on her phone to make a call and within minutes had started kissing and groping her.

A number of witnesses stood several metres away saw the pair sat together in a bus shelter but did not intervene.

The victim said she was terrified and repeatedly told Boyes to leave her alone as he put his hands between her legs and inside her clothes. She hoped somebody would stop him and started to panic when nobody did.

Boyes then walked with her to the train station.

He was physically much stronger and held her in what she described as a headlock-type hold.

Boyes continued to molest the girl at the station and then on the train to Exeter. When he got on the train he asked her if she wanted sex in the toilets but she said no.

She broke down in tears in the witness stand recalling what happened, saying she was panicked, shocked and terrified during the ordeal. She could barely believe it had happened to her.

Boyes repeatedly called both girls slags during the encounters and was ‘utterly unfazed’ there were people around, said the prosecution. When the train reached Exeter he got off and went to McDonald’s where police arrested him.

He told cops: “I can’t lie, I had sex with two girls today. I can’t help it that I’m a stud and they want to get on my d***. It’s not my fault they feel bad afterwards.”

He added: “At the end of the day why would I need to rape a girl for a f*** when I’m this good looking?”.

Prosecutor Heather Hope told the jury: “Two young women had the sheer misfortune to meet Sonny Boyes in and around the Digby and Sowton area that day. Neither knew each other, neither knew him. Each met him separately.”

She said the accounts of both woman were ‘strikingly similar’. His behaviour demonstrated a total lack of concern about what it was that each of them wanted.

She described him as ‘a highly sexualised young man who treated these women in a way that shows an utter disregard to them’. Both victims made it clear they wanted him to stop and did not want any sexual contact.

Boyes bragged to the jury that both victims enjoyed their experiences and were lying because they felt guilty about cheating on their boyfriends. He said they were ‘making a mountain out of a molehill’.

He described himself as a traditionalist and a man with a ‘strong moral foundation’.