A ex london cop was sentenced on Tuesday to life imprisonment with a minimum of 30 years in prison after being found guilty of rape and sexually assault to at least one dozen women for 17 years.
Is about David Carrick, 48, who joined the body in 2001 and since 2009 has worked in a special unit for the protection of parliamentarians and foreign diplomats. Last January he was removed from his post at the Metropolitan Police for serious misconduct.
Although the former police officer was prosecuted for 85 crimes -71 of them sexual and 48 rapes of 12 women- only accepted his guilt in 49 from them. This is one of the most horrifying cases of a police officer involved in criminal acts that also include assault and deprivation of liberty.
The judge Bobbie Cheema Grubb of Southwark court in London declared at Tuesday’s sentencing hearing that the defendant “monstrously took advantage of women” behind a facade of trust and public decency.
“You brazenly raped and sexually assaulted women, in some cases brutally, and acted as if you were untouchable. He was brash and ruthless and thought that none of his victims would get over the shame and be willing to report him,” he continued in his turn.
“For almost two decades everything worked fine for him but now a combination of those 12 women, coming forward, and their police colleagues, using evidence, have exposed and stopped him,” he added.
The magistrate explained that Carrick’s sentence had been reduced after the defendant admitted the facts and spent time behind bars when in 2021 he was detained on remand.
During the trial, the prosecution made a heartbreaking account of the testimonies of the victims, who denounced “systematic” attacks. Among them it became known that Carrick called his victims “slaves”, controlled them financially, the isolated of their relatives and subjected them to all kinds of humiliations.
He met one in a bar in 2003 and, after assuring her that she would be safe by his side, he pointed a gun at her and repeatedly raped her. Another of hers, whom she had met through a dating app, she forced to do chores naked.
The fact exposed, once again, the lack of public trust -especially women- about Scotland Yard, who ignored the warning signs about this agent. We should have “detected his behavior,” said Deputy Commissioner Barbara Gray, acknowledging that “since we didn’t, we missed opportunities to put it away”.
Although he apologized to the victims of nine of the complaints, a similar event had occurred in 2021 when the officer Wayne Couzens, of the same body, kidnapped, raped and murdered the Londoner Sarah Everard, 33 years old. Also, this Tuesday, it was learned that another London police officer was charged with rape. Thus, these episodes not only shock the country but also add to the long list of scandals in the organization.
That is why the magistrate in charge of the case said that “this conviction represents a Spectacular downfall for a law enforcement man empowered to the extent that you are authorized to carry a firearm.” Along with the Secretary of the Interior, Suella Bravermannpointed out that this represents “a scar on our police” and that “there is no place for this predatory and abhorrent behavior in our society.” He also mentioned that an investigation has been opened inside the body to clarify the case and his forced hiring.
For their part, the authorities have been pressuring the Metropolitan Police to modify its standards after the long list of cases of misogyny and racism among its officers.
As a sign of repudiation of all these sexual and gender violence scandals, a women’s defense association protested in January in front of the Scotland Yard headquarters with 1,071 rotten apples as a sign of the number of these cases.
(With information from AFP, AP and EFE)
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Source-www.infobae.com