A man, aged 62, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for repeatedly raping his wife while claiming he was sleepwalking. The defendant, whose identity is protected to safeguard his ex-wife’s privacy, was suggested to have sexsomnia, a condition leading to involuntary sexual actions during sleep. However, a jury at Truro Crown Court dismissed this defense, finding him guilty of multiple rape and attempted rape charges against his spouse of 18 years.
The victim expressed feeling “scared and disgusted” by the recurring assaults, detailing instances where the defendant covered her mouth and nose while sexually assaulting her, deriving pleasure from her gasping for air. Reports from Cornwall Live revealed that these sexual abuses occurred on a monthly basis for approximately a decade.
The prosecutor highlighted that despite the defendant’s claims of unawareness during the acts, his wife never consented to the sexual encounters and repeatedly urged him to seek medical help. The victim disclosed a shift in her husband’s behavior following the birth of their first child, prompting her to confide in close contacts and document the abuse in coded messages.
The couple, married for 18 years, portrayed a relationship where the defendant viewed his wife as a friend akin to a sibling. He professed no conscious recollection of the sexual assaults and denied remembering any complaints from his wife. The jury’s verdict included convictions for five rapes, three attempted rapes, and one count of sexual abuse spanning from 2006 to 2017. The defendant, with no prior criminal record, received a 20-year prison term and a lifelong registration on the Sex Offenders’ list.
Despite claims of a minimal emphasis on sex in their relationship, an expert in sleep disorders emphasized the rarity of violence and aggression in sexsomnia cases.
