A 36-yer-old man who raped a lost woman as she tried to find her way home after a night out was today jailed for three years.
James Frickleton, of no fixed abode, who pleaded guilty to the rape and sexual assault of a woman on October 19, 2014, was sentenced to six years in total.
He will be eligible for release after three years in prison but this will be down to the decision of the parole board.
If released after three years, the other three years of the sentence will be spent on licence and Crown Court Judge Gemma Loughran imposed a further three years to that licence period.
Derry Crown Court heard that Frickleton had moved to Derry only days before the rape.
The court was told that a woman in her 30s had been walking through St. Columb's Park (above) in the early hours of the morning trying to find her way onto the Limavady Road when she met Frickleton who offered to show her the way.
The woman had been drinking and was described as 'vulnerable'.
When she realised that Frickleton was leading her the wrong way, she began to walk away.
However, Frickleton grabbed her placing one hand around her throat and the other over her mouth and dragged her into a wooded area.
The woman said she pleaded with Frickleton, ‘Please, don’t do this’ and he said if she did not scream he wouldn’t hurt her.
He then raped and sexually assaulted the woman.
The woman said she froze with fear and ‘let him do it because she was scared for her life’.
Sentencing Frickleton, Judge Loughran said: “Rape is a deplorable violation of another human being's body. It is a degrading and humiliating experience for the injured party and requires a long custodial sentence.”
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