My Best Friend Married the Man Who Raped Me - Bridesmaid Cries Out!

Posted by Odinaka on Thu 17th Sep, 2015 - tori.ng

A bridesmaid reveals how her friend went on to marry rapist Army captain just three weeks later - and is still standing by him after he was jailed for seven years.

Army captain, Daniel Howard was sentenced to seven years in prison for raping his fiancee's friend

A bridesmaid today revealed how her life was ruined after she was raped by the groom who went on to marry her best friend. Army captain Daniel Howard, 29, was jailed for seven years last week for the sex attack but his new wife April, 26, has stood by him and dumped her friend.

Howard raped his victim when she was a guest at his home as his fiancée, now his wife, slept in the room next door. The Sandhurst graduate's victim, 26, did not go to the wedding four weeks ago fearing 'it could happen again'.

She told the Daily Mirror:

"I was meant to be a bridesmaid at her wedding. 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.

"She has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, has had to change jobs and rarely leaves the side of her family because she is no longer be 'the fun-loving, bubbly person that I was".

Sentenced: Howard the Rapist

Howard raped his victim when she was a guest at his home as his fiancée, now his wife, slept in the room next door. She bravely faced her attacker in court to tell him: 'This will always be part of my life that I have to learn to deal with. I don't think I will ever fully recover.'

Howard, an officer in the Royal Army Medical Corps who served in Afghanistan, denied rape but was convicted after a four-day trial. He repeatedly denied anything happened between them and claimed his accuser was making up the night-time attack in a spare bedroom.

In court, Howard was accused of inventing a 'ludicrous, cold-blooded and insulting' defence in court by attempting to explain away damning DNA evidence by suggesting he and the woman had used the same sex toy by chance.

April has stood by her new husband (pictured together) while her friend has been cut out of her life

The attack happened in February last year in the apartment Howard shared with fiancée, April Broadgate, 26, in Darlington. She refused to believe the woman and supported her husband – ignoring advice about postponing the wedding until the outcome of the case.

Howard wore full ceremonial uniform when they tied the knot in a lavish ceremony three weeks ago and she posted photos of the wedding on Facebook. The new Mrs Howard accompanied her husband to Teesside Crown Court but didn't enter the court room to listen to any evidence.

She wept uncontrollably after being informed of the verdict, and was ushered into a room with Howard.

The judge told him he had been convicted on the 'strongest possible evidence'. Recorder Andrew Sutcliffe, QC, accused Howard of attempting to 'humiliate and denigrate' his victim by concocting a false defence. He described the attack as 'calculated'.

Source: Mailonline