Mother's trauma over rape attack

The court heard the 74-year-old was repeatedly raped

A 93-year-old woman has spoken of her bewilderment after a man conned his way into her home and raped her elderly daughter.

The mother said in a statement read to a jury at Bristol Crown Court: "I cannot fully grasp or describe how I feel about what happened.

"This incident has shocked me and caused me considerable worry about our safety."

Anthony Joyce, 49, of Salisbury, Wiltshire, denies two counts of rape, two counts of false imprisonment and one count of burglary relating to the attack.

Since the attack I have been traumatised and it has left a severe effect on my everyday life.

Rape victim

The alleged incident took place in June 1999 in the Westbury area of Wiltshire.

Statements from the mother and her daughter, then 74, about what happened in their hour-long ordeal were read out to the jury on Thursday.

The daughter said that on the day before the attack she took a phone call from a man who said he worked for the telephone company and arranged to call at the house the next day.

On the morning of 4 June he rang again saying that he was in the area and asked to come round.

The daughter answered the door to a man who asked to see the phone lines.

She said she took him upstairs, but the man grabbed her from behind, threatened her with a large carving knife and tied her up, while demanding cash.

She said in the statement that she begged him to leave her mother alone, but the man went downstairs wearing a black mesh mask and forced the elderly mother to go upstairs.

Once there she was tied to a chair and blindfolded.

Handbag taken

After fixing a pillow case over the daughter's head, the man forced her to go downstairs, where he raped her repeatedly after tying her to an upturned chair.

Eventually the man, who spoke little during the attack, left, but threatened to return if the women reported what had happened to the police.

The daughter said in her statement: "I had used the word frightened but this does not begin to describe my feelings at the time.

"Since the attack I have been traumatised and it has left a severe effect on my everyday life."

It was later discovered that a dressing gown, a cushion and money from the daughter's handbag had been taken.

Telephone engineer

On Wednesday the jury heard how police discovered the tip of a latex glove stuck to masking tape used to hold the pillowcase around the daughter's head and were able to recover DNA.

Mr Hope said a DNA expert had concluded that the self-employed painter and decorator's DNA was extremely likely to be a match for that in the glove.

Joyce was arrested in August 2001 and a search of his home had found a pornographic video featuring a scene in which a telephone engineer calls at a house.

The trial continues.