‘I keep thinking I must have asked for it in some way,’ said the traumatised victim
A takeaway delivery driver demanded oral sex from a 14-year-old customer he had lured into an alley. Himanshu Himanshu, 26, was working for Chicken Valley in Porth, Rhondda Cynon Taf, when he exposed himself to the girl, Cardiff Crown Court heard.
Prosecutor Hannah Friedman said the Indian national, who was in the UK on a student visa, groomed the child for weeks with offers to buy her clothes and shoes. On the night of the incident she went to Chicken Valley with friends and Himanshu turned up in his car.
Her friends walked a short distance to get a phone signal, while the girl accepted Himanshu’s instruction to get into his car because it was raining. He told her to stay with him rather than follow her friends, the court heard. For the biggest stories in Wales first sign up to our daily newsletter here.
Himanshu offered her cigarettes and a vape, which she declined, before leaving the car and taking her into a nearby alley, saying he wanted to show her something.
Ms Friedman told the court: “She asked what it was and tried to say no but the defendant kept saying, ‘Come on.’ He had his arm around her and was coaxing her down the lane.
“The defendant went into the alley and stopped. He told her to go in front of him so if someone came they wouldn’t be able to see him. She thought he was going to show her something on his phone.
“He pulled his trousers and underwear down to about mid-thigh height, exposing his penis. He said, ‘Suck it.’”
The girl said she would not and reminded him she was 14 years old. He replied that he did not care and again ordered her to “suck it”.
Himanshu was exposed for around 20 seconds before the girl managed to whistle to get her friends’ attention. They went to help her and Himanshu got back in his car. The following day, police arrested him at Chicken Valley.
The defendant, of Cymmer High Street, initially denied inciting a child to engage in sexual activity but pleaded guilty on the day his trial was due to start.
In the victim’s impact statement she said she could not trust strangers since the incident and that she felt “terrified” of the dark.
“I can’t go outside at night, I don’t like going out in the day or even go to the local park by myself,” she said. “I have trouble sleeping and travelling down to court [for the scheduled trial] was particularly terrifying. I keep thinking I must have asked for it in some way.”
The court heard Himanshu’s student visa was due to run to 2027 but that he had been served with a deportation order. He has been remanded in custody since August because he breached his bail conditions by failing to surrender his passport.
His barrister David Singh said: “This is a defendant of relatively young age with no previous convictions, I’m told, either here or in his home country. He has no plan to appeal against deportation and wants to return to India as a matter of urgency as his parents are unwell.”
The judge, recorder Mark Powell, noted that it was the victim’s friends who “came and prevented anything else happening”. He told the defendant: “She is a girl who was vulnerable and I can be sure you took advantage of that vulnerability. No doubt you found her sexually attractive.”
Recorder Powell imposed 330 days in jail and a sexual harm prevention order which will last 10 years.
Ensure our latest news and sport headlines always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. Click here to activate or add us as Preferred Source in your Google search settings.