Mother shields child

Press, 26 October 1984, Page 8

Mother shields child

NZPA-PA London A mother told an Old Bailey jury yesterday how a masked raider had raped her at knife-point while she cradled her terrified five-year-old daughter and sang nursery rhymes to distract her. The 32-year-old woman had held the trembling child and tried to shield her eyes during her ordeal, said David Paget, prosecuting. An unemployed man, aged 23, before the court has denied rape and aggravated burglary. The woman said that she and her daughter were sharing a bed when a man broke into their flat in north London early on March 19. “My daughter was shaking and trembling all over but not crying a lot — she stayed very calm really. I told her to go back to sleep and told the man to take whatever he wanted and go. He told me to shut up.” The man had got into the bed, told her to keep her face turned away from him, and then raped her, she said.

“I was just talking to my daughter the whole time. I started singing nursery rhymes to her — anything to distract her, she was shaking and whimpering.” The man had raped her a second time after allowing her to put the frightened child back in her own bed, said Mr Paget. The trial was adjourned.