A MAN tried to rape a woman during a harrowing 40-minute ordeal after he had pestered her to snort cocaine.

Scott Edmunds, 35, overpowered his victim and sexually assaulted her in her own home, Newport Crown Court was told.

The defendant “wouldn’t take no as an answer” throughout the sustained incident in Caerphilly county in the summer of 2021.

Edmunds, of Penrhyn Terrace, Phillipstown, Caerphilly was found guilty of two counts of attempted rape, two of sexual assault and one of assault by penetration.  

He was convicted by a jury following a trial.

The defendant had denied all allegations.

The woman confronted him in court to read out her victim personal statement.

She said: “I don’t see this pain ever ending. I feel absolutely shattered and numb.

“I've suffered three years waiting for this day. Now it’s time for him to suffer the consequences of his actions.”

Ffion Tomos, prosecuting, told the court: “The assaults occurred during the early hours of the morning in the victim’s own home and when the defendant was under the influence of alcohol and drugs.”

Edmunds had bought cocaine on his way to the complainant’s address.

Adam Sharp representing him said: “These offences were out of character. The defendant has no previous convictions.

“He will carry with him for life the stain of being a convicted sex offender and all that that entails.

“The defendant is shell shocked and indeed terrified about his fate.

“This will have a severe impact upon him it being his first experience of custody and indeed of the criminal justice system.

Judge Shomon Khan told Edmunds: “You pestered your victim, telling her to take some cocaine with you.

“Eventually, she agreed. I'm sure that you hoped that the cocaine would make your victim more disinhibited, but it didn't work.

“She just wasn't interested in you in that way.”

He added: “You lost all of your senses – intoxicated on drink and drugs your need for sexual gratification took over.

“You wanted to have sex with your victim and you would not take no for an answer. The attack was prolonged.

"You told her, 'I know you want it.'"

Edmunds was jailed for eight-and-a-half years and he will serve two-thirds of that sentence in custody before being released on licence.

He will have to register as a sex offender for life and he was made the subject of an indefinite restraining order not to contact his victim.