A vile rapist was today jailed for life for carrying out a campaign of abuse on a young boy – which caused him to try to take his own life.
Arnold Bracs, 57, who slept with children’s underpants under his pillow, made the boy practise tying a noose from a tree and putting his head inside.
Just two days after the boy was rescued from the evil clutches of Bracs and two other men one of his attackers hanged himself from the tree.
The third predator later died in a road accident and the victim was so disturbed by the abuse he tried to take his own life, Canterbury Crown Court heard.
Jailing Bracs for life with a minimum of 15 years, Judge James O’Mahoney said he had shown “wicked conduct”.
The victim, described by the judge as “very brave”, told police the ordeal had led him to try to kill himself.
The boy, who is now a teenager, said: “I no longer wish to die, but what he did to me was wrong. I think it was disgusting and I will never forgive him for this. He has destroyed my childhood.
“What I am most worried about is he could do the same to anybody else again and I really hate him for what he has done to me.”
Bracs, from Cliftonville, Kent, initially denied the attacks claiming he suffered from “erectile dysfunction”.
But he admitted six rapes dating back many years at Canterbury Crown Court on July 27 last year.
David Allan, prosecuting, told the court Bracs threatened to kill his vulnerable victim if he reported the abuse.
He said “a campaign of rapes” continued for six months.
Mr Allen said: “At first it was only Bracs who was involved in the rapes, but it did not remain that way.
“Three males later committed sex acts in front of their victim and on their victim. Others became involved as well.”
The prosecutor said Bracs also denied claims from his victim there was a suicide pact involving two men and the child.
The victim said that had he not been rescued, the pact would have been carried out.
Mr Allen added: “Bracs and another man set up a tree where they hung three nooses from a branch. And they were obliged to practise putting the noose around his neck.”
In a Victim Impact Statements the boy said he had often woken up in the middle of the night screaming and “covered in sweat.”
His mother told police that her son has an “extremely vivid memory”.
The mother revealed that for a while the family were unable to have knives in the house or eat with china plates.
She added: “I want my son to finally have a childhood that he has never had.”
The judge said: “Normally to have an exceptional memory is a blessing but not when he has to recall this, it’s a curse.”
Bracs has 12 convictions including being jailed for 30 months for five sex offences with children in February 1988.
