A schoolgirl who was repeatedly raped by three men after they lured her away from an Asda car park ‘wakes up crying and screaming in the night’.
The 12-year-old was ‘used, abused and discarded like trash’ by Ivan Turtak, 38, Kevin Horvath, 25, and Ernest Gunar, 27, in August last year.
The ‘complete strangers’ were found guilty following a trial at Canterbury Crown Court last week.
Now, the girl’s heartbroken parents have described how their once confident and outgoing daughter has become a shadow of her former self.
She said: ‘She doesn’t want to do anything now. She doesn’t leave the house without me, her dad, or his dad. She won’t go out of the house other than that.
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‘She dragged her mattress into our bedroom when she was found. She slept in my room.
‘She’d wake up crying and screaming in the middle of the night.’
During the trial, jurors heard how the girl was abused across three locations – in the car she was lured into, Turtak’s flat in Dover, and a ‘dirty’ caravan in Folkestone.
Speaking of the moment she managed to escape, her mum said: ‘She was very brave to chance her arm and think, “I can get out of this”.
‘She said she sat there for a couple of minutes – debating whether to try it. In the end she said she ‘just knew she had to get out’ so she just went headfirst through the window.’
The girl’s parents said they have always been protective of their daughter and never allowed her to go out much by herself.
The most freedom they had given her was a walk to the nearby park or a brief shopping trip with friends – where she was always picked up and dropped off by an adult at pre-agreed times.
Her dad said: ‘We’d never let her just go out.
‘Our main thing would be getting her friends to come to us. They used to come to us a lot, didn’t they?’
Her mum added: ‘We’d always have to make sure we knew where she was, who she was with.’
Horvath, Turtak, and Gunar have been remanded in custody until their sentencing on September 12, where they are all expected to be handed lengthy jail terms.
Horvath was convicted of sexual assault of a child under 13.
He had previously pleaded guilty to three charges of rape of a child under 13 and one charge of assault by penetration of a child under 13.
Turtak was convicted of rape of a child under 13.
He had already pleaded guilty to taking indecent photos of a child.
Gunar was convicted of two charges of rape of a child under 13.
He had previously pleaded guilty to one charge of rape of a child under 13.
The girl’s mum said: ‘She just wants her justice now. I am so proud of her. She’s been incredible.’
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