Man Jailed After He Assaulted a Young Girl He Met on Snapchat

Rhodri Llyr Griffiths

In a case of online deception and unspeakable trauma, Rhodri Llyr Griffiths, a 28-year-old man from Highland Gardens in Neath Abbey, has been sentenced to 10-and-a-half years in prison for his crimes against a 13-year-old girl he met on Snapchat.

In October 2023 Rhodri, initiated contact with the young girl, through a fake profile, and bombarded her with explicit messages. Subsequently, he admitted to sexual communication with a child, rape, and other sexual offenses at his hearing in the Newport Crown Court.

The victim recounted the horrible ordeal of being offered money and alcohol in exchange for carrying out sexual acts; he’d also sent her a video of someone who, he said, was with him. The victim agreed to meet and told Rhodri where she lived. Once she got into his vehicle, she saw that not only was no one with him, he was actually very much older than he’d claimed.

The victim testified that she asked Rhodri to stop the car and let her out, but he told her no and drove to a parking lot and proceeded to tell her to get into the back seat of the car.

“She was so fearful if she didn’t you may kill her [and] tried to get away but you screamed at her to stop”

Judge Daniel Williams said.

After the attack, Rhodri drove the victim back to her house, laughed, and said,

“I bet you won’t meet up with anyone else anytime soon.”

The victim ran into her home and told her mother of her ordeal. After that, Rhodri was arrested. Once police interrogated him, he lied, telling them that sexual contact was initiated, but no actual sex acts occurred. Later, he plead guilty to rape, sexual assault, assault by penetration, and sexual communication with a child.

In court, the victim testified that she felt like her childhood and her life had been destroyed by Rhodri.

“When I look in the mirror or close my eyes I see him laughing…. All I want to do is sleep the day away. I will never feel happy again. Even school is too much for me….

I can’t look at another male without feeling uncomfortable, I will never trust another male again. When I see a man with glasses or a red car I panic.. I don’t feel safe leaving home.

I wake up with gut-wrenching fear and terror. All I can think is: “Why did I wake up? Why can’t this all be a dream? Why did this happen to me?” No matter how much counselling and therapy I’ll have when I am ready I’ll never be the same girl again….

I thought it would have been easier if he killed me as I wouldn’t have to live every day and feel this way. I feel crippled with guilt…. He’s ruined my life. My life has changed completely. I don’t want to do anything anymore.

I want to stay in my bedroom by myself. Life will always be a constant battle but I pray I will find some peace in my head and feel myself again but I know it will take a long time.”

As the victim retold her ordeal, Rhodri remain expressionless. Judge Williams address Rhodri saying,

“You were clearly enjoying what you were putting her through… I don’t accept for a moment you have any regret or remorse for what you did.

You have a mild form of autism but that doesn’t impact your culpability with what you did. You said you had never had any sexual experience until your now-pregnant partner with whom you formed a relationship and you felt as though you’d missed out.

You pose a high risk of serious harm to female children in the form of sexual violence… You planned this and intended to use alcohol to facilitate the offence. You have caused severe psychological harm in a prolonged incident.”

He also said that the victim’s statement was “heartbreaking”, and that Rhodri was “a high risk of serious harm” to other young girls and it was his belief and responsibility that he needed to “impose an extended sentence to protect the public.” Judge Williams concluded with a statement which sid that Rhodri’s attack inflicted “severe psychological harm” to the victim.

Rhodri was jailed for 10.5 years and given an extended license period of 5 years. He has to serve 2/3rds of his custodial sentence and then he can be considered for parole. He then has to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life, get a sexual harm prevention order, and have a restraining order against him for the next 15 years. 

The victim’s mother said that when the girl returned home, she scrubbed her skin until it was raw and also tried to take her own life. 

“As a mother, I can’t fix her or take her pain away.”

After the trial, the Gwent Police detective constable Georgia Dunne said,

“We’d like to thank the victim and witnesses for coming forward and reporting the incident to the police. They have shown tremendous bravery and resilience throughout the investigation and the subsequent court process. Rhodri Griffiths is a dangerous man, and we welcome the sentence provided by the courts and hope that he uses this time to reflect on his actions.”

Detective chief inspector Matthew Sedgebeer said,

“The behavior displayed by Rhodri Griffiths suggests that there could be more victims who may not have come forward. We hope this outcome shows anyone who is a victim of sexual assault that they will be listened to, believed, and respected. We take all allegations very seriously and if a report is made to us we investigate it thoroughly. We want to reassure anyone considering doing so that there is a whole range of support out there not only from Gwent Police but from partner agencies who can help you through the entire process.”

Join my LaM Facebook Fan Group 

Visit our shop

And an easy and free way to help me out is by simply sharing this blog post.

All Love and No Murder Yall

true crime, sodder children, sodder family children, unsolved mystery, unsolved sodder family tragedy, love and murder, love and murder heartbreak to homicide, current news, true crime blog