One of two girls raped by teenage boys in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, has said she does not think she "will ever be the same" as a Court of Appeal hearing begins on Wednesday to review the non-custodial sentences handed to her attackers.
The girl, identified only as Jazmine, was 15 when she was attacked in an underpass beside the River Avon in November 2024. She had travelled to meet a boy she had been in contact with on Snapchat, believing it was a first date. Instead, two other boys appeared, and she was raped three times. The offenders – then 14, now 15 – shared video of the assault on social media, prosecutors said, resulting in Jazmine receiving abusive messages.
“A teenage rape victim says she will 'never be the same' as court reviews non-custodial sentences given to her attackers.”
In January 2025, the same two boys raped a second 14-year-old girl at Fordingbridge Recreation Ground, with a third boy, now 14, shouting encouragement. Video footage shown in court captured the second victim lying motionless on the ground with "her face buried in her hands" while the other boy was heard urging them on.
Despite amassing 10 rape convictions between them, all three walked out of Southampton Crown Court in May with youth rehabilitation orders – prompting public outcry and an appeal by the Attorney General's office. Sentencing judge Nicholas Rowland imposed the non-custodial sentences, but the case will now be reviewed by three appeal judges at the Royal Courts of Justice over two days.
In a statement released ahead of the hearing, Jazmine described the trial as "traumatising" and said she is "carrying what happened every day".
"I wake up with it, I go to school with it, I try to sit exams with it, and I go to sleep with it. It is always there," she said.
She said that while giving evidence, she was questioned in detail about what she "apparently did", and that it was "implied that I wanted it. It was implied that I was experienced in what I was doing. It was implied that I had chosen it or taken part in it."
"What happened to me has left me harmed so severely that I do not think I will ever be the same," she added.