Sex attacker is jailed for rape after getting caught when he messaged his victim on Facebook saying he ‘wanted some sort of closure’
- Nathan Thorburn, 25, messaged his rape victim three years later for ‘closure’
- He was given a 13-year extended sentence comprising a nine year custodial term
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A sex attacker was jailed for rape after he was caught messaging his victim.
Nathan Thorburn, 25, sent the victim a message on Facebook saying he ‘wanted some sort of closure’.
He raped a woman in student accommodation while she was unconscious in Cardiff in 2019.
The rapist forced himself on her until she woke in the middle of the attack due to the immense pain, according to Wales Online.
The predator, who has previous convictions, apologised the following day but did not give her any explanation.
Nathan Thorburn, 25, raped a woman in student accommodation while she was unconscious in Cardiff in 2019
He was given a 13-year extended sentence comprising a custodial term of nine years with an extended licence period of four years at Cardiff Crown Court
Years later Thorburn contacted the victim in 2022 asking to discuss what happened because he wanted ‘closure’.
Cardiff Crown Court heard this week that the pair had been drinking alcohol and at the end of the night Thornburn offered to put her to bed because she was passing in and out of consciousness.
At times the victim thought he was her boyfriend and ‘was unaware Thorburn was on top of her’.
Prosecutor James Wilson added that the woman ‘was in pain and wanted to scream’ but could ‘only manage a whimper’.
The victim told police she was unaware of the full extent of what he had done to her and initially was going to ‘take it to grave’ in order to cope.
She did not know if he was wearing a condom and described herself feeling ‘defiled, dirty, vile, and disgusting’ about what the defendant had done and ‘felt like a corpse’ while it was happening.
Thorburn, of Kingsway, Cardiff, was sent to prison in 2019 for an unrelated matter and was made subject to a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO).
After his release from prison he contacted the victim on Facebook messenger, the victim, in turn, accused him of ‘massaging his ego’ by turning to the woman he raped in order to absolve his guilt
He wrote: ‘Hey. Can we talk? I wanted to talk about the situation about me and you before I went to prison. I think I knew what I did was wrong and I want some sort of closure I guess.
‘I think it’s good to talk about these things with that person to be sure about this. Things have been going on in my mind for a long time that I want to put to rest.’
Her response read: ‘I don’t even know where to begin. I can give you closure in one simple sentence. You are a rapist.
‘First, you even messaging me is incredibly selfish and self-serving. I reread the message you sent and can count how many times you say ‘I’.
‘You want closure because it’s playing on your mind? You want to get closure for assaulting me when I was drunk, passed out, and vulnerable and put me to bed. I will never get closure. For me it will last a lifetime.’
The victim then blocked him before he compiled the messages in a document which he circulated to a sexual assault referral service.
The document was picked up by the defendant’s offender manager who visited him on June, 13, 2022. The victim was later identified and formally interviewed.
He was arrested and pleaded guilty to rape and breach of an SHPO after he was found to have deleted his internet history.
The rapist had previous convictions for accessing indecent images of children having first been convicted in 2019 for accessing 14 Category A images, 19 Category B images, and 149 Category C images.
He was later convicted on another count of accessing indecent photos of a child in January 2020 as well as a breach of a SHPO having viewed images of children being raped.
In a statement read out in court the victim said incident is ‘a lifelong scab I will pick at forever and forever’.
Hilary Roberts, for Thorburn, said while mitigation for his client was ‘scant’ he had recognised that his behaviour was ‘wrong’, which had troubled him and caused him anxiety.
He was given a 13-year extended sentence comprising a custodial term of nine years with an extended licence period of four years.
Thorburn will serve two-thirds of the custodial element of the sentence before becoming eligible for parole.
If he is released he will serve the remaining period of the custodial sentence on licence before serving the extended licence period.
He was also made subject to a restraining order prohibiting him from contacting or approaching the victim or entering any premises where she lives, works, or studies.
He will now be on the sex offenders’ register for life.
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