'You took my body and my freedom for your pleasure'

A MAN who raped a woman and told her he was “enjoying” it has been jailed for a decade.

- LUCY JOHN

During the attack the victim asked Paul Hallisey: “Did you know that’s rape?” to which Hallisey allegedly responded: “Is it?,” and continued raping her.

He denied rape, but was found guilty following a trial in January.

Hallisey of Heol y Berllan, Caerau, Cardiff, was sentenced at Newport Crown Court on Tuesday.

During the sentencing the victim read out her personal statement in which she described the impact on her as a “life sentence” that left her suicidal.

“Standing here today, I still feel pain,” she said. “I will forever be affected by what he has done”.

Looking directly into Hallisey’s eyes as he sat in the dock, she described him as “smirking” back at her, and told him firmly: “You took my body, you took my freedom for your pleasure.

“I hope you never treat another woman the way you treated me.”

She told Recorder Aidan Eardley KC that she continues to have flashbacks and nightmares as a direct result of Hallisey’s actions, stating: “A word, a sound, a smell - everything comes flooding back.”

She said he “took all of [her] trust” and that she “lost herself” adding: “I could barely look at myself, I could barely face life. I didn’t want to leave my bed or my house.

“I tried to take my life on more than one occasion - I saw no way out.”

She said her mental health declined to the point of her being sectioned.