[2025] EWCA Crim 1113

The account that follows refers to the offender and to two other men who were co-defendants when the case came to trial. Without belittling the seriousness of what the offender did, the much worse abuse inflicted by the other men is relevant because their abuse serves to put the offender's criminal conduct in its proper context and perspective.

As a result of investigations into grooming gangs in Rotherham and nationally, the victim (who we shall call V) and her friend (who we shall call F) were identified and spoken to by police as potential victims and disclosed that they had been sexually abused.

In 2011, V (who was then aged 15) and her friend F (who was also aged 15) were friends and fellow residents of a children's home in Rotherham.

In the autumn of 2011, Mr Stefan Houphouet met and quickly befriended V and F in Rotherham town centre when they were heavily intoxicated. He engaged both girls in conversation and offered them more alcohol and the chance to go to a party. Before leaving however, Mr Houphouet took V into an alleyway, pushed her to the ground and vaginally raped her.

Mr Houphouet took both girls a short distance to a home in the Eastwood area of Rotherham and introduced them to his housemate, Mr Absolom Sigiyo, and other males. Later that evening, after providing them with more alcohol during a house party, Mr Houphouet again raped V, and on this night or a night soon after Mr Sigiyo raped F.

Over the course of the following months and into 2012, Mr Houphouet routinely met the victims in Rotherham town centre and conveyed them to the house he shared in Eastwood, where there were regular house parties in which the girls were given attention and made to feel wanted and grown up. They were encouraged to dance provocatively and were reminded directly and indirectly that they were the subject of sexual attraction and would be having sex during or at the end of the night. Mr Houphouet and Mr Sigiyo incited them to drink alcohol to excess whilst the girls often arrived "pre-loaded" with alcohol from drinking together in Rotherham town centre. Mr Houphouet would ensure that their levels of intoxication were maintained and increased by the provision of further alcohol and tobacco he would purchase from a nearby petrol station.

At an early one of these parties, around November 2011, the offender began talking with V, asking her about her background, where she was from and where she lived. He was flirty with her and asked if she wanted to go upstairs to talk in private, to which she agreed. The parties went into Mr Houphouet's bedroom, where they talked further and began to kiss.

V told the police that she did not feel scared as she had gone upstairs willingly rather than being told to go upstairs. She described what occurred as being completely different to what happened with the other men. She disclosed that both she and the offender were undressing each other and described it as how sex is meant to be when it is something you want, as compared with her other experiences. V kissed the offender and let him know that she was enjoying what they were doing, both verbally but also by her actions. She touched the offender back. She was, of course, still only 15.

V and the offender progressed to having penetrative vaginal sex, but after a couple of minutes of this, Mr Houphouet walked into the room. V told the police: "He like opened the door proper slammed it, you know being proper … violently loud ... loud violently ... scary, you know like kicking off to sense like asking me what the fuck I am doing, why the fuck I am sleeping with him, I am not allowed to sleep with him. You are a slag ... a slut." The offender jumped up and Mr Houphouet told him to "get the fuck off, get dressed, fuck off."

The offender got dressed as quickly as he could and was saying to Mr Houphouet, "I am sorry, I am sorry, am sorry", and then ran downstairs and left the premises. V never saw the offender again. Mr Houphouet proceeded to call V a slut and violently raped her, stating "You are not allowed to sleep with him, you are mine, you are for me."

The offender was interviewed on 18 April 2018 and 18 June 2020. He provided an account which confirmed that he was living with Mr Sigiyo at the Eastwood address and that Mr Sigiyo would bring girls back to the address to party. The officers showed him a photograph of V. He said he recognised her as one of the girls brought to the address. He said that on one occasion he and V both took their clothes off. He denied that any sex took place but stated it could have taken place if a black male (who he said was called Steve) had not entered the room. He said he thought that V was 16 or 17, and he denied on another occasion trying to kiss F.