A father-of-four was handed a seven-year sentence today (Tuesday) for entering a drunk woman’s home and raping her whilst she lay in a vulnerable state.
Kurt Adam Mills denied raping the 20-year old woman in June 2018, but was unanimously convicted by a jury of the charge after standing trial last November.
The 29-year old, from Lysander Park in Newtownards, entered the woman’s home uninvited in the early hours and later claimed they had consensual intercourse.
His version of events was rejected by a jury at Downpatrick Crown Court, and he was sentenced today for the offence.
As he imposed the seven-year sentence, which was divided equally between prison and custody, Judge Geoffrey Miller QC spoke of the “immense” impact Mills actions have had on the woman.
Judge Miller said: “The fact that the rape was committed in her own home, where she had a right to feel safe, and at a time when she was in a vulnerable state, has only exacerbated her sense of violation.”
During the trial, the jury was told the woman and her boyfriend had been drinking together from around 8pm on June 1, 2018.
The couple then attended a social gathering at a house in Ards, where more drink was consumed and where Mills was also present.
At around 3.30am on June 2 an argument broke out at the party, and at this point the woman said she was ‘really drunk, was more or less falling asleep and had vomited several times’.
She was given a lift home, and as soon as she got home she went straight upstairs, got into bed and fell asleep.
A short time later she woke up as she heard her front door opening but fell back to sleep as she believed it was her boyfriend.
Mills then entered the bedroom and after removing his lower clothing and her underwear, he raped the woman as she lay drunk in her bed.
She later told police that in her drunken state, she knew she felt scared but didn’t know what to do, telling officers “I knew it was going to happen but I didn’t know how to stop it, so I didn’t do anything”.
The following morning, she contacted her boyfriend and told him what had happened. She then went to the PSNI and was taken to the Rowan Sexual Assault Referral Centre.
Mills was arrested on June 5, 2018 and made no reply when questions about her allegations. He was arrested again on October 22, 2018 and on this occasion he admitted he had been in the woman’s home.
He claimed she told him to come to her house, that he knocked on her door in the early hours, that she invited him in and that they had consensual sex.
Mills maintained this version throughout the trial - and despite the jury’s verdict, continues his claims of innocence.
Judge Miller said the unanimous guilty verdict reached by the jury indicated whose version they believed.
The Judge also said that due to the woman’s intoxicated state, she was “vulnerable” - and that Mills entered her home and her bedroom “with a clear intention in mind.”
Defence barrister Charles McKay said his client Mills came from an “underprivileged background” and that he suffered from anxiety and depression.
Mr McKay also said that whilst Mills had a criminal record, there were no previous offences of a sexual nature.
Judge Miller imposed the seven-year sentence, placed Mills on the Sex Offenders Register for an indefinite period and said a Sexual Offences Prevention Order would be deferred until he is released from the custodial element of his sentence.
