Man is in custody for assaulting stranger in her home

A man who “brutally” sexually assaulted a woman in her own home and dragged her back to the property by her hair as she tried to escape has been jailed for 20 years.

Benjamin Guiver, from Fishguard, Pembrokeshire, entered the property in Goodwick where the woman – whose identity is protected by law – was sleeping before violently attacking her.

Swansea Crown Court heard how the victim was mercilessly and repeatedly beaten in the attack on May 24, 2024.

Guiver admitted assault by penetration, assault, intentional strangulation, trespass with intent to commit a sexual offense and threatening to kill.

Judge Geraint Walters said it was “difficult for anyone to imagine a more brutal and terrifying attack in someone’s own home”.

The court heard the victim fell asleep in her living room at around 9pm BST while watching TV and waiting for her partner to come home.

She woke up to see Guiver, whom she did not know, kneeling next to her and trying to flee the premises.

Guiver followed her, covered her mouth as she tried to scream for help, kicked her and threw her across the driveway.

He then dragged the woman back to the house by her hair before sexually assaulting her.

After being thrown on the bed, the woman tried to reason with him, saying she could tell he was upset, but Guiver then began choking the female victim and told her he was going to rape and kill her.

Guiver sexually assaulted the victim and, while she begged him to let her go, repeatedly hit her head against a radiator.

The attack only stopped when her relative and partner arrived home and chased Guiver out of the house.

Prosecutor Robin Rouch said the female victim suffered multiple injuries, including fractures and extensive bruising to the face and stomach.

‘I am a shell’

In an impact statement read out on her behalf, the victim said the attack destroyed her life as she believed she was breathing her last.

I am a shell, it said.

“Constantly nervous and afraid of my own shadow.”

The victim said the ongoing injuries have affected her daily life as it is “a struggle to look in the mirror because of the injuries.”

“I feel like I’m not myself anymore,” she added, saying that “simple tasks like folding sheets are a struggle” and that her partner now has to help her get dressed and do her hair.

She said she could no longer sleep in the same room where the attack took place

“My whole life was ruined in one night by one person,” she added.

“I know what happened will haunt me for the rest of my life.”

‘She will never fully recover’

The victim’s son was also injured when he tried to chase the 35-year-old out of the house. He was beaten and strangled before police arrived.

In his statement to the court, he explained that he came home and heard his mother screaming for help.

“The only thing on my mind was not to lose the guy,” he said of Guiver.

He added that he still has flashbacks of the night and “can’t get the sound my mother made out of my head.”

Judge Geraint Walters said at sentencing that Guiver laughed at his victim as he strangled her as she turned blue.

“She was right to fear that you would kill her because you had completely lost all reason and control” as a result of the drugs and alcohol he had consumed that day.

“Chances are she’ll never fully recover from what you did.”

Guiver was sentenced to twenty years in prison, including a fifteen-year term of imprisonment and an extended license period of five years.

An indefinite restraining order has also been issued, banning him from having any contact with the victim.

After sentencing, DCI Matthew Briggs of Dyfed-Powys Police praised the victim’s bravery, saying: “The victim has shown tremendous courage in this case throughout the investigation and I commend her for that.

“To suffer such an attack in your own home is unimaginable and, as she explains in her statement, has affected every aspect of her life.”