Man jailed for nine years after sexually assaulting six-year-old girl in foster home
A man who subjected a six-year-old girl to a terrifying sexual assault inside a foster home has been jailed for nine years.
Aaron Abbott was 16 when he attacked the child at a foster home in south Leeds in January 2015. Both Abbott and the girl were in foster care at the time.
During the assault, Abbott blocked the bedroom door with a wardrobe, preventing the young girl from escaping.
When she tried to scream for help, he forced socks into her mouth to silence her.
Following the attack, Abbott threatened the child, warning that he would do the same thing again if she told anyone what had happened.
The girl remained silent about her ordeal for more than a year before eventually confiding in a friend, who encouraged her to speak to a teacher.
The case ultimately came before Leeds Crown Court, where Abbott, then aged 23, was convicted and sentenced to nine years in prison.
The court heard how particularly vulnerable the victim had been at the time of the offence.
Judge Sally Cahill QC said the evidence showed that the girl had been isolated within the foster home and had not been receiving the level of care that should have been provided by the adults responsible for her.
The court also heard about the lasting psychological consequences of the attack. The victim had struggled with emotional trauma, including self-harm, and continued to have difficulty coming to terms with what had happened to her.
In mitigation, Abbott’s barrister Matthew Harding stressed that Abbott himself had been a child when the offence was committed. He described it as an isolated incident which had not been repeated and asked the court to take Abbott’s age at the time into account.
Detective Inspector Lawrence Bone, of Leeds District Safeguarding Unit, said Abbott had put the girl through an “appallingly traumatic ordeal” which affected her for years before she felt able to disclose what he had done.
He said the case demonstrated that the passage of time should not discourage victims from reporting sexual offences and stressed that specially trained safeguarding officers are available to support victims through investigations and court proceedings.
Abbott was convicted of sexually assaulting the six-year-old girl and jailed for nine years.
The case also highlighted the extreme vulnerability of a child who, despite being in foster care and supposedly surrounded by adults responsible for her welfare, felt she had nobody she could turn to after being attacked.