Man who raped and abused women convicted

A man who abused and controlled five young women, including multiple rapes, has been convicted.

George De Bathe, from Chichester, forced the women into restraints and blamed the injuries they suffered on consensual rough sex.

Between 2015 and 2019, the 25-year-old subjected the victims to a "catalogue of physical, sexual and psychological violence", Sussex Police said.

A jury at Portsmouth Crown Court found De Bathe guilty of 24 counts against five women, including six counts of rape.

The five young women, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had all been in relationships with De Bathe.

He controlled every aspect of their lives by telling them how to dress, what to eat, where they could go and who they could speak to, the court were told.

Described as a "psycho" by one of the women, he would cut up their clothes, demand access to their phones and social media accounts, and insisted on lengthy, written apologies if they broke any of his rules.

After raping one of the women, he strangled her when she took a pregnancy test, the court heard.

During the trial, De Bathe, who chose not to give evidence, was accused of intimidation and was criticised for smirking.

The women described how De Bathe pressured them into taking nude or topless pictures of themselves, which he would use to manipulate them.

Some of the women were under age when they took pictures of themselves, jurors were told.

The court also heard from one woman who was beaten unconscious by De Bathe, and agreed to have sex with him to avoid further attacks.

Karen Cushing, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "None of us can imagine the terror they experienced as a result of his controlling and coercive behaviour.

"Despite claiming to one woman that the police couldn't touch him and that we would never prosecute him, with their evidence, we were able to bring him to justice on behalf of the women that he tried so hard to manipulate and control."

Det Con Jon Petroulas added: "Each of these women's lives was made a misery by de Bathe, and they must live with the trauma of his crimes."

De Bathe was found guilty of six counts of rape, seven counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, five counts of controlling coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship, two counts of sexual assault, two counts of false imprisonment, a threat of making a threat to kill and common assault.

He will be sentenced in July.

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