Three men were sentenced to a total of 53 years in prison after a jury found they abducted, drugged and repeatedly raped a 12‑year‑old girl who was taken from a supermarket car park in Dover in August 2024.
Kevin Horvath, 26, and Ivan Turtak, 38, both of Dover, and Ernest Gunar Junior, 27, were sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court after being convicted of multiple child sexual offences. Gunar received a 19‑year term while Horvath and Turtak were each given 17 years. The court ordered that each offender serve a minimum of two‑thirds of their sentence and imposed three‑year extended licence periods; indefinite restraining orders were also handed down to prevent contact with the victim and they will be subject to sexual offenders' notification requirements on release.
Prosecutors said the girl was approached in an Asda supermarket car park in Dover on August 11, 2024, and lured into Horvath's Skoda. She was allegedly raped in the vehicle before being driven to a flat belonging to Turtak. Gunar later joined the two men and the victim was taken to a caravan on Arthur Street in Folkestone, where prosecutors say she was held for about 72 hours.
While in the men's care, the court heard, the girl was given a combination of drugs, including crystal methamphetamine, amphetamine and cannabis, and was repeatedly sexually assaulted. The defendants filmed parts of the abuse and, prosecutors said, Turtak took a photograph of the victim naked in a bathtub. DNA belonging to the three men was recovered from the girl's torso, clothing and intimate areas, the court was told.
The victim escaped on August 13 after waking before her captors and jumping from a window. Police found her in Dover that day; initially she did not disclose what had happened and told officers she had walked to Folkestone and back. She later gave an account to her mother and to police investigators.
At trial, the jury convicted Turtak of the rape of a child under 13; he had already pleaded guilty to taking indecent photographs of a child. Horvath had previously pleaded guilty to three counts of rape of a child under 13 and one count of assault by penetration of a child under 13 and was convicted at trial of an additional charge of sexual assault of a child under 13. Gunar pleaded guilty to one count of rape of a child under 13 and was convicted at trial of two further counts of rape of a child under 13.
Prosecutor Hannah Llewellyn‑Waters said in submissions that the victim had been "used, abused and discarded like trash" and that the defendants sought to shift blame onto the child during the trial. Judge Sarah Counsell, sentencing, said she did not accept the men's claims that they believed the girl to be an adult and told the court that the drugs had been used as a form of grooming. "The impact of your offending has been profound," she said, citing evidence from the victim's mother about the child's loss of confidence and ability to take part in normal activities.
A victim impact statement read during the hearing described ongoing nightmares, difficulty sleeping alone and a reluctance to leave the family home. The girl said she had lost friends, felt unable to speak about the events and wanted to "be her again." Her mother told the court her daughter had dragged a mattress into the parents' bedroom after being found and had said she wanted to die; she also said the child continued to have night terrors.
Probation assessments presented to the court found Turtak posed "a high risk of serious harm to children in the community" and described Gunar as a "high risk to prepubescent females." The court heard the defendants showed little genuine remorse; the prosecutor said their expressions of regret amounted to "lip service." Turtak told police he had a wife and denied offending; Horvath and Gunar disputed some of the victim's evidence, the court was told.
Detective Chief Inspector Matthew Smith of Kent Police praised the victim for her co‑operation and the investigative team for securing convictions. "Kevin Horvath, Ivan Turtak and Ernest Gunar are clearly three very dangerous offenders who thought nothing about picking a child up off the street and effectively keeping her prisoner in order to fulfil their own depraved sexual needs," he said, adding that he hoped the sentences would provide some comfort to the girl and her family as they try to rebuild their lives.
The court also imposed indefinite restraining orders preventing any contact with the victim, and the defendants will be subject to sexual offenders' notification requirements on release. Authorities said such offences of this nature are rare in Kent and commended officers and staff involved in the investigation and prosecution.
The case drew attention to the vulnerability of the victim and the impact of prolonged sexual abuse and grooming. The victim and her family will be eligible for ongoing support services offered to victims of sexual offences as they continue their recovery.