London - A judge yesterday called for a change in the law as he passed a 16-year jail sentence on a knife-wielding rapist who was able to "intimidate and humiliate" his victims as he cross-examined them at length in the witness box. Judge Timothy Pontius said there was "understandable public concern" that alleged sexual offenders were currently allowed a "virtually unfettered right" to quiz those they were said to have degraded.
The 44-year-old man he was sentencing, who represented himself during his Knightsbridge Crown Court trial, made his victims repeat every intimate detail of their ordeals.
