“All I tell myself is that at least she is alive and came home.”

These are the words of the mother of a girl who was abducted and raped when she was 12-years-old by a then 65-year-old man she met online.

At Nottingham Crown Court today (Friday 21 October), Donato Rizzi of New Romney Crescent, Leicester, was guilty of offences under the Child Abduction Act, child rape and child sexual assault.

He has been sentenced to serve 20 years in prison.

The young girl’s mother has spoken about the affects these events have had on her and her daughter and to help raise awareness of Child Sexual Exploitation amongst parents like her who perhaps never thought this would happen.

She said: “I first became aware last year of my daughter engaging with a man online who lived abroad.

“Her devices were taken away from her and the only mobile we had in the house was my own which was always with me.

“As with most children her age, she wanted her phone back, so I allowed it but with strict controls which prevented her use online and we later found out she had used a friend’s phone to contact the same man again.

“On an evening in December last year, I received a message on my phone from an unknown person trying to contact with my daughter. I explained she was 12 years old and if the messages continued I would contact the police. 

“It was later uncovered that this person had started speaking to my daughter after she had managed to sign up to a dating website through our TV and a voice assistant device.

“When she first disclosed to me she had met up with this person, her behaviour was different. She was very tearful and cuddly and I knew something serious had happened. She said she was sorry and she didn’t want to get into trouble. She even said she didn’t think she would be believed which saddens so much.

“I was just relieved that at least she is alive and she came home. I can’t imagine what it would be like if it wasn’t that way.

“She knows what has happened is not okay but she has blamed herself which is how the grooming has made her look at it.

“She should be at a point in her life where she is looking forward to her future but she feels she doesn’t have one. She can’t see her friends as much and her school work has suffered massively. Her social development has suffered in many ways as well and she continues to sleep in my room at night.

“She is a very bright, funny and amazing girl and while she has been so brave in talking about what happened, I know this will affect her for the rest of her life.

“As you would expect I have been left terrified about her being online again and I don’t feel she will ever be safe. I feel I need to constantly watch her and that she is being unfairly punished with the lack of freedom she now has. Small everyday things like taking out the bin leave me with dreed. Will she go missing while I am outside for a few moments? What if in that short space of time she does have access to a phone, which I know is impossible?

“I often think ‘What did I do wrong? What did I miss?’ I do feel like a failure and wonder how we will get through this as a family.”

In talking about how she tried to restrict her daughter’s presence online, she said: “I have gone to extreme lengths to prevent her going online. I have turned off the wi-fi when we go to bed and locked away the router. She is very computer savvy and these people she has spoken to online have clearly helped her in this.

“I had spoken to the children about the dangers of talking to people they don’t know and about being safe online. I have always been a protective parent. If she wanted to go to a friend’s house after school, I always insisted I meet the girl’s parents first and they are happy she is going to their house. Part of me feels she needs to be accountable for going onto a dating website but then she is a child. She has vulnerabilities which put her at a greater risk and the people she has spoken to online have used this to their advantage.”

And speaking of the defendant she added: “I’m so angry. I hate him. At his age he has had his life; his freedom, and my daughter feels as though she has neither of those things. No young child should have to experience what she has and he has taken her future from her.

“The sentence will never give her back her life, a life she deserves. I can only hope that he understands what he has done to my child and that all the people who know him know what he did as well.”

In sharing her story, she is hoping that parents and carers are more vigilant to the signs of CSE and realise how easily this can happen.

She added: “This can happen to anyone, it all feels very surreal that it happened to us. You want to wrap your children up in cotton wool but you can’t. Parents and carers need to understand how clever these people are at manipulating children and making them think that their parents are bad and being difficult when they question who they are speaking to online.

“Trust your instinct and if something doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t and always report your concerns to the police. Something which may be quite small may be part of a much bigger picture of abuse and grooming. We have been very well supported by the police throughout the investigation and the court proceedings.

“It’s too late to stop what happened to my little girl but I hope that if by sharing our story, it makes at least one person look differently at how easily children can become victims of CSE and could well prevent another victim of this terrible crime, then that is reassuring.”

Read the sentencing press release: Twenty-year prison sentence for child sex offender | Leicestershire Police (leics.police.uk)