taken their daughter to hospital was jailed for six years yesterday.

Supreme Court heard the 27-year-old Devonshire man beat the woman and had anal sex with her on three occasions, even though she managed to escape several times.

Her ordeal ended when she ran on to Middle Road, Devonshire, and a driver called the Police.

Supreme Court heard the couple, who were together for five years, argued at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital over who would stay overnight with their sick two-year-old daughter on June 28, 1998.

Crown counsel Larry Mussenden said the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, followed his girlfriend to the stairs at Corkscrew Hill on Middle Road, pushed her face against the steps and said he was going to have anal sex with her.

He was partially successful, but the woman managed to struggle free and scream for help. She asked to go home but he slapped her and again forced himself on her.

The assault only stopped because she said someone might hear them.

At Avocado Lodge Park at the top of Corkscrew Hill, the man again told her to get down, but when she refused, he angrily threw her to the ground and again had sex with her. During the course of the ordeal, he punched, kicked and slapped her.

The woman managed to run away several times but each time the boyfriend caught her and attacked her again.

"The defendant caught her on three different occasions, and each time he punched, kicked or slapped her,'' said Mr. Mussenden.

Mr. Mussenden told Puisne Judge Norma Wade-Miller that based on previous cases, the attack merited a 15-year sentence.

"The complainant attempts to get away several times but is followed by the defendant, but not only followed, but slapped and beaten and kicked,'' he said.

"This ranks right up there with what the Court of Appeal says was a brutal and vicious attack. The nastiness goes over further with the nature of the sexual assault with the defendant stating what he was going to do.

Brutal rapist jailed six years "He carried it out three times, and it is our submission that this ranks with what the Court of Appeal says was disgusting and vicious.'' The defendant, who had no previous convictions but was a heroin addict, apologised for the attack. He pleaded guilty to the serious sexual assault and to stealing a cash register from Somerset Bridge Post Office on July 27, 1999.

His lawyer Richard Horseman said he pleaded guilty because he did not want to put his former girlfriend through the ordeal of testifying.

The attacker said: "I feel sorry for what I did. My daughter got 'flu and we took her to the hospital and it led to a fight.'' Mr. Horseman said his client was a man of previous good character and that his heroin addiction played a role in the attack.

Mrs. Justice Wade-Miller said she took into account the guilty plea but the serious nature of the offence required a six-year sentence for the sexual assault and one year for the robbery, to run concurrent.