Girl, 12, is repeatedly raped by three Slovakians in 72-hour ordeal

A 12-year-old girl who was repeatedly raped by three Slovakian men ‘wanted to die’ after her 72-hour ordeal and now wakes up ‘screaming in the middle of the night’, her parents have revealed. 

The schoolgirl was subjected to the living nightmare after depraved Kevin Horvath, 26, and bodybuilding brute Ivan Turtak, 38, lured her into their car in an Asda car park in Dover, Kent.

She was then plied with drugs, including crystal meth and amphetamine, and repeatedly raped and subjected to sickening sexual acts by monsters Horvath, Turtak, and a third man, Ernest Gunar, 27.

The youngster’s devastated parents – speaking out for the first time today – say her hellish assault has left her a ‘completely different child’ who now suffers from night terrors as a result of her ordeal. 

The innocent schoolgirl’s torment began on August 11 and did not end until August 13, when she bravely managed to escape through a window – despite the men telling her they would kill her if she tried to flee.

Speaking during their trial at Canterbury Crown Court, Prosecutor Hannah Llewellyn-Waters told jurors the vulnerable youngster had been ‘used, abused, and discarded like trash’.

She said: ‘She was passed around and treated effectively as a receptacle for their own sexual gratification, and the defendants’ conduct was callous, degrading, and entirely exploitative.’

Now, after the men were found guilty of their crimes, the girl’s heartbroken parents have revealed how their once confident and outgoing daughter has become a traumatised shadow of her former self.

They revealed she is now afraid of the dark, terrified of being alone, and can only settle at night if she sleeps in their bedroom.

Her heartbroken mother said: ‘She doesn’t want to do anything now.

‘She doesn’t leave the house without me, her dad, or his dad. She won’t go out of the house other than that.

‘She dragged her mattress into our bedroom when she was found. She slept in my room.

‘She’d wake up crying and screaming in the middle of the night.’

When the traumatised girl was first found by police, she initially claimed she had ‘walked to Folkestone and back’.

But once she was safely home, she broke down and told her parents what had really happened.

Her mother – who for legal reasons cannot be named – said she was ‘absolutely terrified’ while she waited to tell police exactly what hulking pervert Turtak, Horvath, and Gunar had put her through.

‘She was absolutely terrified,’ her mother said. ‘Telling me that she wanted to die.

‘She went very withdrawn – a completely different child.’

The girl’s parents said they have always been protective of their daughter and never allowed her to go out much by herself.

The most freedom they had given her was a walk to the nearby park or a brief shopping trip with friends – where she was always picked up and dropped off by an adult at pre-agreed times.

Her father said: ‘We’d never let her just go out.

‘Our main thing would be getting her friends to come to us. They used to come to us a lot, didn’t they?’

Her mother added: ‘We’d always have to make sure we knew where she was, who she was with.

‘Normally, we’d get her friends to come round, because we’ve got a garden here.’

The girl’s parents also recalled the harrowing moment officers knocked on their door to reveal what had happened.

‘I thought it was her coming home,’ her mother sobbed.

During the trial, Canterbury Crown Court heard how the girl was abused across three locations: the car she was lured into, Turtak’s flat in Dover, and a ‘dirty’ caravan in Folkestone.

Det Con Linda Gavin, who interviewed the 12-year-old after she was saved by police, told the court: ‘She was extremely upset, frightened, reluctant to speak. She was just frightened – a frightened child.’ 

After their arrests, DNA belonging to the defendants was found on the girl’s torso, clothing and intimate body areas.

Despite the girl’s vivid testimony, Turtak claimed she had lied about her age – and said he, Horvath, and Gunar would never have spoken to her if they had known she was 12.

Turtak, who was first to be arrested, denied any sexual activity with the girl, telling police: ‘I have my own wife and I love her. I don’t do such things to children.’ 

But jurors convicted him of rape of a child under 13. He had already pleaded guilty to taking indecent photos of a child.

Meanwhile, Horvath, who had previously pleaded guilty to three charges of rape of a child under 13, and one charge of assault by penetration of a child under 13, was also convicted of sexual assault of a child under 13.

Gunar, who previously pleaded guilty to one charge of rape of a child under 13, was convicted of a further two charges of rape of a child under 13.

The girl’s parents say she has been incredibly brave following her ordeal – which was made more traumatic by the invasive process of gathering evidence.

She endured intimate medical examinations, forgoing baths or showers so that forensic evidence could be collected, and underwent stringent medication regimes and blood tests to reduce the risk of her contracting a deadly infection like HIV or hepatitis.

Speaking of the moment she managed to escape, her mother said: ‘She was very brave to chance her arm and think, “I can get out of this”.

‘She said she sat there for a couple of minutes – debating whether to try it. In the end she said she ‘just knew she had to get out’ so she just went head first through the window.’

Horvath, Turtak, and Gunar have been remanded in custody until their sentencing on September 12, where they are all expected to be handed lengthy jail terms.

The girl’s mother added: ‘She just wants her justice now. I am so proud of her. She’s been incredible.’

Catherine Wear, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: ‘The three defendants took a 12-year-old from the street, took full advantage of her, plying her with drugs and using her for their own horrendous gratification.

‘None of us can underestimate the impact this has had on her. When she was first found by police, she was unable to tell them what she had been put through, as she was so scared, and the details only came out gradually after that.

‘Thanks to her courage in detailing what happened to her, despite the obvious distress that caused her, these three dangerous men have now been brought to justice for the appalling and callous crimes they committed against her.

‘We hope these verdicts bring some small comfort to her as she starts to rebuild her life.’