Swansea Crown Court has heard about the anxiety a man feels after being raped on multiple occasions as an 11-year-old boy by Dafydd Rees.

“When it first happened I felt scared, upset and disgusted, and I knew it was wrong,” he said in a victim impact statement, read out to the court.

“I wanted to speak to someone, but I was worried because I thought I’d get into trouble.

“Throughout my teenage life I’ve always felt that emotional situations were difficult and whenever I was overwhelmed, I felt I’d react and suffer bouts of anxiety.

“When my son approached the age that I was when I was abused, I was worried about him getting into a similar situation.”

Dafydd Rees, 38, of College Street, Ammanford appeared before Judge Geraint Walters for sentence after he was found guilty by a jury of raping a child under 13 on six separate occasions and of indecently assaulting the same child.

The offences took place between October 1, 1998 and August 5, 2000 when Rees was aged 15. His victim was aged 11 or 12.

“You took advantage of him every time the opportunity arose,” said Judge Geraint Walters when he passed sentence.

“It was only when [the victim’s] own son reached the same age as he was when he began to get abused that it all came back to his mind again.

“And by denying the offences, you made the victim relive it all over again.”

Judge Walters made reference to the fact that Rees had experienced a difficult childhood, when his mother had been absent for long periods of time.

“Despite this, I’ve read nothing that can justify this sort of behaviour,” he continued.

“Neither is it a case where your own immaturity was a factor. You would have known it was wrong at the time, there’s no shadow of doubt.”

Rees was sentenced to 12 months in custody and will be placed on the sex offenders’ register.

He will serve half of his sentence in custody with the remainder being spent on licence.