The girl met Gilbert, a bus driver, shortly after her 16th birthday, while she was travelling on his bus, and they then communicated on social media.
After grooming her, which included encouraging her to end a relationship with someone else, he invited her to the staff accommodation where he was living, where he later put restraints on her wrists and ankles and raped her.
‘Being raped while being restrained was the most terrifying experience of my life,’ she said.
‘I never imagined that someone in a position of trust and power could have used that position in the way he did.’
She was raped on two other occasions by Gilbert, who was 24 at the time, and who was sentenced to 15-and-a-half years in prison for a total of six sexual offences against four females, two of whom were aged 15.
Gilbert admitted all the offences, which took place between April and October last year.
The 16-year-old said that she had started to spend time with Gilbert after he bought her gifts, gave her lifts in his car and told her she was pretty.
After the breakdown of the relationship Gilbert had encouraged her to end, he invited her to his home, and initially appeared to be acting supportively.
When they were on the bed watching television, he began rubbing her thigh. She pushed him away. But he forced her onto the bed and put restraints on her wrists and ankles, leaving her face down and unable to escape.
Gilbert then raped her before driving her home.
She went to his home on another occasion, after he told her he wanted to apologise for his behaviour, but instead he raped her again.
Gilbert hugged her and then started biting her. She told him to stop, but he did not, leaving bruises on her chest and neck. As she made to leave, he pushed her on to the bed and raped her.
She said she was shaking and asked the defendant to take her home. While driving, he had his hand on her leg, and he told her that if he could not touch her she would have to walk home. She felt forced to comply because of his physical strength.
She feared that ceasing communication would make him angry and lead to him starting rumours about her.
A couple of weeks later, he raped her for a third time, again at his home. While they were together, her mother called her phone, but Gilbert took it and switched it off.
She disclosed his offending to a friend who noticed marks on her.
In her victim impact statement, she said her life had changed and she was devastated that her family had to find out what had happened.
She had viewed the island as a safe and happy place, but now felt anxious and uneasy around men. She said she felt intimidated and fearful and no longer trusted people the way she once did.
He was sentenced to nine years and six months in prison, to be served concurrently, for each of the rape charges.
The second victim of Gilbert’s to be identified to the court, a 15-year-old, was sexually touched by him.
Their communication had also developed on social media after meeting on a bus he was driving. They then went on a drive together and parked at Jerbourg.
He hugged and kissed her. She pulled away, but he held her by the neck.
They parked at the top of the Val des Terres, where he put his hand inside her underwear, though she tried to resist.
After driving the girl home, Gilbert slapped her bum when she got out of the car.
He was aware of her age and had said he would have sex with her when she was 16.
She said she thought Gilbert had been supporting her after losing a close friend to suicide, but instead he was taking advantage.
She blamed herself and since then felt uncomfortable around men. She still scrubbed her skin in the shower until it turned red, hoping to erase the memory of him.
‘I hate him for what he did,’ she said.
‘There is still a big impact on me and my family. I am no longer the person I used to be, and he is responsible.’
He was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison, to be served consecutively.
The third victim was also a 15-year-old girl. Gilbert had contacted her on Snapchat when she was 14 and he was 23. He bought her energy drinks and threatened to spread rumours about her if she blocked him on social media.
On one occasion, she was travelling on Gilbert’s bus with no other passengers. When the bus arrived at Keyprice at L’Ancresse, Gilbert told the girl they would not be leaving for several minutes, and they both got off the bus and started talking.
Gilbert forced her to hug him, pushed her against the bus and put his hand inside her pants. When his phone was seized after his arrest, there was a note with the victim’s name, birthday, favourite types of chocolate and flowers, and the date of their first kiss.
The girl’s mum said it was difficult to see what had happened to her daughter. The crimes had affected her sleep and her GCSE exams. She had become ‘a shell of the person she once was’. She had lost friends and felt the need to be in contact with her family constantly.
For these offences, Gilbert was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison, to be served consecutively.
The fourth victim was a mature woman who worked in a shop which Gilbert visited regularly. During one visit, he slapped her on the bum. She challenged him on his actions and told him never to return. On this charge, Gilbert was sentenced to six months in prison, to be served consecutively.