By Court Reporter

A MAN who sexually abused a six year old Quedgeley girl when he was himself a teenager in 2011 was jailed for three years on Friday.

Christopher Rouen, 22, of Dumbarton Road in Stockport raped the girl and then simulated sexual intercourse with her when they were both naked, Gloucester Crown Court was told.

Rouen, who has ten convictions for 'flashing' offences of indecent exposure, was aged 17 at the time he abused the girl between June and September 2011, the court heard.

Judge Jamie Tabor QC said the normal starting point for an adult who committed such offences on such a young girl would be eight years.

But he halved that because of Rouen's age at the time and then deducted a further year to take account of his guilty pleas, he said.

Prosecutor Brendan Moorhouse said "The girl was extremely grateful that the defendant spared her the ordeal of having to give evidence to a jury."

He said the offences came to light the girl told a brother what Rouen had done to her.

The brother told his mother who spoke to the girl and gently prised out from her the details of what had happened.

"She then kept it secret for a long time," the prosecutor said.

"The defendant was interviewed on December 24 last year and denied the offences.”

In a victim impact statement, the girl said that at the time of the offences she was so young she did not know what to feel about it.

She now feels wary about boys and is scared they might suddenly kiss her, she stated. It takes her a long time to feel she can trust someone.

She had mixed feelings about Rouen - mad that he had confessed his crime to the court but not to her, she said.

"I think he should go to jail as a punishment but I think he needs some support so he doesn't do it again," she added.

Kate Hammond, defending, said Rouen is 'young for his years' and was naive and immature at the time of the offences.

The mixture of cannabis use, raging hormones and immaturity had led to him behaving very differently to a normal teenager, she added.

Judge Tabor told Rouen "What you did was wicked. It has had an effect on your victim since that time. β€œIt has obviously been something very much on her mind while she has been growing up.

"I have tried to strike a balance between the young man you were then and you are now but I have come to the conclusion, I'm afraid, that you must go away to prison. I don't say that lightly or with any pleasure at all."