Leeds chef raped teenager telling her to 'lie back and enjoy it'
A teenager was told to “lie back and enjoy it” before being raped by a Leeds chef.
The young woman was just 16 when Niall Johnson twice ignored her pleas for him to stop when he “demanded sex”.
Johnson was jailed this week for more than eight years after being found guilty after a trial at Leeds Crown Court of two counts of rape and one of assault by penetration.
In a victim impact statement, summarised by prosecutor Clare Walsh, she said: “It has changed her personality and will take her a very long time to get back to where she was before.
“She says before she was bubbly and energetic, and now has no motivation for anything and some days it is all she can think about.
“She is triggered if she is touched and it takes her back to what he did.
“She does not feel she could get close to anyone and automatically thinks everybody is out to hurt her.”
The court heard that Johnson, of Brathay Gardens, Seacroft, had met the teenager online in 2022.
She agreed to travel to his home and stay for a week in the November of that year.
She said the first few nights were fine, but on night four he forced himself on her, telling her to “lie back and enjoy it”.
On another occasion he held her by her arms and raped her again and only stopped when her phone rang.
She left the property and immediately told her parents what had happened, who called the police.
Having denied the offences, despite evidence of “confessional” messages he sent to her in the aftermath, the jury found Johnson guilty following the trial at the end of August.
Mitigating, Nicholas Hammond said Johnson was only 18 at the time, pointing to his immaturity. He said he had not been in trouble since.
He had been employed in a restaurant as a chef, and having been held on remand in HMP Leeds, is now hoping to switch prisons so he can take courses to better himself.
Mr Hammond said Johnson wanted to continue working as a chef once he is released and added: “He does not want to be in the criminal justice system again.
“He has had his first taste of prison and in the pre-sentence report you will have read it has been a difficult time for him."
Judge Ray Singh jailed him for eight years and six months and told him: “She told you she did not want it to happen.
“You knew exactly what you were doing.”
He was told he must serve at least two-thirds of his sentence in custody before being considered for parole, was put on the sex offender register and given an indefinite-length restraining order to prevent him contacting the victim.