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Groom Rapes Wife’s Best Friend, Victim Breaks Silence

By Meaghan Ellis
Published on: 06:23 PST, Sep 18, 2015

A rape victim’s riveting story documenting the day her life was destroyed has gone viral. According to Metro, the victim — whose name has not been released — was allegedly raped by her best friend’s husband. Initially, the victim was set to be a bridesmaid in the wedding, but things took a turn for the worse when she was raped by her friend April Broadgate’s then-fiancee, Daniel Howard.

“I was meant to be a bridesmaid at her wedding,’ she said. “We were meant to have children at similar times and raise them together. I only said something in the first place to try to protect April. I couldn’t have stood in church on her wedding day knowing what had happened and that it would most probably happen again.”

According to the Telegraph, the victim was spending a night with Howard and Broadgate in February 2014. But, sometime during the night, he left his bed that he was sharing with his fiance and entered the victim’s room. Shortly after the allegedly drunken sexual attack occurred, the victim attempted to contact her boyfriend, to no avail.

Since he’d turned his cell phone off, she was forced to deal with the aftermath alone. The unexpected turn of events was just the beginning of a downward spiral for the victim. A number of news reports have also revealed the victim’s boyfriend committed suicide after being tormenting by feelings of guilt over not being there for his girlfriend. However, that’s not all.

When the victim finally decided to confide in her best friend, she became infuriated and severed ties. The victim’s allegations reportedly destroyed her friendship with the bride-to-be. Although she insists she only informed her best friend to “protect her,” things didn’t exactly go as planned. Now, her former best friend reportedly wants nothing to do with her.

She also moved forward with the wedding plans and married Howard just days before his trial was set to begin. Needless to say, the victim is devastated about the incident and how it has affected her life. But, the happy couple’s honeymoon didn’t last for very long.

Less than a year after they tied the knot, Howard was found guilty of rape. According to the Mirror, the verdict was announced last week. Although Howard’s defense team initially argued that he was framed by furnishing a “ludicrous, cold-blooded and insulting” explanation insisting that the victim planted evidence with the use of a sex toy, the judge felt otherwise.

“In the face of overwhelming DNA evidence to the contrary, you continued to deny this ever happened. This attempt to humiliate your victim severely exacerbated the wrong you had already done to her.”

Howard has been sentenced to seven years in prison. The victim has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

[Image via Wikimedia]

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