A teenage rapist has been jailed for attacking a young girl in a shopping centre car park.
David Spiridon, 17, was named and shamed by Judge Adele Williams as he was jailed for nine years, on Thursday.
Gang-member Spiridon, from Chatham, Kent, forced his 15-year-old victim into a stairwell and made her perform a sex act.
The 15-year-old schoolgirl said she did not try to fight off Spiridon or run away because she had seen a knife under his jacket.
Judge Williams told Spiridon, who was a member of the C4 gang that featured in the Kyle Yule murder trial, that he “humiliated and degraded” his victim.
She said: “I have seen you give evidence and you are, in my judgement, a mature 17-year-old – street wise. You felt at this time you could do anything, that you could get away with anything.
“You have shown no remorse, no insight and you do not believe you have done anything wrong.”
Maidstone Crown Court heard the 15-year-old girl told a teacher she had been at the Pentagon Centre in Chatham in March when she was approached by Spiridon, then aged 16, wearing a bandana on his head.
Spiridon told her to go with him and took her away from her friends to a stairwell in the multi-storey car park.
He then asked her if she was sexually active and whether she had “given uck”, a slang term for a sex act, and whether she was going to do it for him.
The girl said Spiridon then forced her to perform the act.
Prosecutor Christopher May said the next day the girl was at the shopping centre again with friends when they saw the teenager and other boys.
He again asked her to go to the stairwell and she tried to gesture to the others to go with her, but they didn’t.
Mr May said: “She was worried about the repercussions if she refused what he wanted.
“Afterwards, she was very scared and ran off to find her friends.”
She saw him on another occasion at the centre and he showed her videos on his phone of other girls performing the sex act on him.
The victim said in a recorded interview she knew the teenager was in a gang and that she was scared during the first time the teenager told her to perform the sex act.
The teenager said: “At that point I was scared, because he’s like gang and stuff, and he’s got like knives and stuff.
“And, like, I would love to have retaliated, like hit him back or something, but I didn’t want to get hit or, like, stabbed or anything.”
Mr May said the level of trauma to the victim had been very significant and in a victim statement she said she was no longer the same person.
She had gone to the shopping centre regularly to associate with friends, but no longer went out.
The victim added she had flashbacks and was not eating or sleeping properly.
She said of the rapes: “I feel disgusted about it.”
The prosecutor said: “It has clearly had a very significant impact on this young lady.
“There are elements of humiliation and degradation.
“The defendant has targeted this young lady. He was disguised and masked. He described her as being stoned.”
Judge Williams told Spiridon said: “You treated her as an object – an object to provide you with sexual gratification.
“You didn’t see her as a human being. You used her.
“She was a vulnerable 15-year-old. You humiliated her and degraded her.
“You intimidated her and put her in fear in order to ensure she would do as you told her.
“You were wearing a balaclava or face mask and you showed a knife to those who were with you before you took her away.
“All that combined to put her in fear, together with her believing you were in a local gang.
“You knew she had been smoking cannabis. I take the view she was terrified by what took place on that day and the next day. Your offending is grave.”
The court heard Spiridon has previous convictions for robbery in 2016.
His name will appear on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely and a sexual harm prevention order was made for ten years.
Detective Constable Sanj Tanday of the Missing and Child Exploitation Team said: “We presented extensive evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service, which proved Spiridon had committed two rapes against this teenage girl in Chatham and despite this he protested his innocence, forcing his victim to give evidence at court.
“This young lady must be commended for her bravery in coming forward and taking the stand against this vile bully.
“She has conducted herself admirably and I hope this verdict can offer her some closure and allow her to move forward with her life.
“I’d like to remind other victims who may have experienced similar offences that any report received will be taken seriously and in strictest confidence and that officers will investigate thoroughly to ensure any offenders are brought to justice”’
By Adela Whittingham and Keith Hunt
