Belfast Crown Court has today imposed a sentence of eight years jail - followed by two years on probation - on a 16-year-old who pleaded guilty to the rape and assault of a tourist in the Colin Glen Forest Park in 2008.

The defendant, referred to as 'C' because of his age, asked the victim (known as 'A') for directions and tried to engage her in conversation.

Evidence was heard that she then became concerned and tried dissuade him from accompanying her.

C then threatened her, pushed her to the ground and raped her.

The judge, Mr Justice Hart referred to a psychiatric report on the victim which showed that the attack had significantly affected her work and social life.

He also quoted from a victim impact statement in which A says that the attack changed her outlook on life as a whole: "I liked to think I was a trusting person before the attack and now I am wary of everybody, but especially teenage boys.

"The fact that a 15-year-old boy could do this to me has shaken my faith in humanity," she said.

The judge also referred to the psychiatric and pre-sentence reports on the defendant which described his lack of education and lack of general intellect.

He had not attended school regularly for several years and had been completely beyond parental control during the six months before the offences.

The pre-sentence report considered the defendant as presenting a high risk of causing harm and re-offending and suggested that a custody probation order with conditions would enable him to continue rehabilitative work in the community after he is released.

The judge also said that the importance which courts attach to an early plea of guilty is even greater in the case of sexual crimes.

He said that the defendant did not plead guilty at the outset but maintained "the derisory case" that the victim had effectively invited and then accepted the offer of sex from a teenager she had only just met whilst walking through the woods.

The court heard that he went to a police station six days after the attack and that during the police interview the defendant said that he had been smoking cannabis and met A when he was "stoned".

He claimed she gave the impression she liked him and he asked her, and she agreed, to have sex with him.

He changed his plea, however, on the morning of his trial to guilty on each of the charges.

See: 'Call Police' Over Rape Says SF

(BMcC/JM)