A man has been found responsible for the rape of an 11-year-old girl which took place in the 1970s.
A judge had ruled that Denis Coles, who now lives in a care home in Rumney, Cardiff, was unfit to stand trial for medical reasons and therefore could not receive a criminal conviction.
The case was instead heard as a “trial of the facts” and the jury concluded the 73-year-old man was “responsible for the act”.
A trial of facts is a process that takes the place of a criminal trial.
In this type of hearing, the accused can either be found “not guilty” or “responsible for the act”.
In an impact statement read out at Cardiff Crown Court, the victim, who cannot be named, said she was “still going through hell” and that her childhood was taken from her “in the blink of an eye”.
The young girl was walking home from Girl Guides in Rumney when she was attacked by Coles, then aged 26, in November 1977.
After an initial investigation, a man who maintained he had raped the girl was arrested.
His blood group was later found not to match the semen found at the scene and he was acquitted.
Detective Constable Aimee Thomas from South Wales Police said the force launched a review into the case in 2019.
“Thanks to the application of advanced technology and additional forensic work, Dennis Coles was identified from DNA on the victim’s underwear,” she added.
Coles was arrested in July 2021 and charged in September 2022.
In court on Thursday, he received a two-year supervision order and he must sign the sex offenders register.
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Coles appeared before the court via video link, with white hair and wearing a blue jumper, sitting in a large armchair.
Handing down the order, Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke, the Recorder of Cardiff, said the victim was subjected to a “horrendous offence at a very young age”.
“There is no doubt that if the defendant had been fit to plead, even at his age, he would have received a very substantial custodial sentence,” she added.