A PRISON sentence has been handed to a man who ‘took advantage’ of a drunk teenage girl at a house party by raping her.
Daniel Bucknell, 28, was sentenced at Oxford Crown Court on Thursday (April 18) after being found guilty by a jury of count each of rape and attempted rape on March 26, 2022.
The father-of-one trapped a 15-year-old girl in a bathroom and forced her to perform oral sex on him before trying to have penetrative sex with her during a house party.
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Sentencing him to a six-year custodial sentence with a four-year extended licence, Judge Ian Pringle said: “She was quite clearly affected by drink, a fact I find you knew perfectly well, and you thereby took advantage of her.
“I consider that you are a danger to the public and there is a serious risk of harm.”
During the sentencing hearing, a victim impact statement written by the girl was read out by prosecutor Brian Reece.
“My life has changed forever,” she wrote. “What Daniel did to me affected me physically and mentally. This will stay with me forever.
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“I struggle to form trusting relationships with others. This incident has stopped me going to parties and multiple social events.
“This situation has made it very hard to move forward. I’m always worried and I’m always conscious. I feel like I’ve changed a lot as a person, I’ve become a lot angrier.”
She added that she now feels anxious or nervous going to the bathroom alone.
The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, described the court proceedings as being difficult as she had to ‘relive the situation over and over to try and get some justice’.
“What makes it worse is that Daniel has not taken any responsibility or accountability for what he’s done,” she wrote.
“No one should have to go through what I went through. In that moment, I just froze, I hope he gets the appropriate punishment for all the damage he's caused.”
Defending Bucknell, of Nightingale Avenue, Oxford, his barrister explained that he has no relevant previous convictions.
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She added that it was a ‘last minute decision’ to go into the bathroom with the victim and it wasn’t a ‘deliberate plan’ made throughout the course of the evening.
Judge Pringle sentenced Bucknell to six years imprisonment, which he will serve two-thirds of before being released on licence, with an extended licence period of four years.
He also received an eight-month concurrent sentence for the unrelated possession of a stolen electric bike.
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