Girl suffers ‘nightmares’ after catalogue of sex attacks by Norwich pensioner

A 72-year-old man subjected a young girl to a catalogue of sexual assaults that she will “never recover from”, a court heard.
Gerald Renouf launched the assaults on the girl more than a decade ago but it was only recently the victim had the courage to come forward to make a complaint about the abuse, which started when she was six, Norwich Crown Court heard.
Renouf was yesterday jailed for five years and placed on the sex offenders’ register for life.
Jamie Sawyer, prosecuting, said in an impact statement that the victim said she suffered from anxiety and depression as a result of the abuse she suffered at the hands of Renouf and said she would never get over what happened.
Renouf, formerly of Sukey Way, Norwich, had denied the offences but was convicted of four offences of sex assault following a trial.
The court heard that Renouf was showing signs of the early onset of dementia and had attended court for his sentencing from the Julian Hospital on Bowthorpe Road, which cares for older people with mental health problems, where he was a voluntary patient.
Detailed medical reports were provided by psychiatrists to the court about his condition which was described as “mild” and jailing him, Judge Maureen Bacon said that these reports should go with him to the prison, so he could be kept under observation by staff.
Judge Bacon said the victim had described how the abuse had affected every aspect of her life and she still had nightmares about what happened.
She told Renouf: “She says she will never get over what happened. You are responsible for that.”
She said that the jury in convicting him had “seen through” him and said his victim had only been a young child at the time. She also ordered that Renouf be made subject to a sexual harm prevention order.