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Rapist who murdered pregnant girl gets 35 years
Former nightclub bouncer Carl Whant was jailed for at least 35 years yesterday for the rape and murder of heavily-pregnant teenager Nikitta Grender.
Miss Grender, 19, was two weeks away from giving birth when drugged-up Whant called at her flat at around 5am on February 5, last year.
The tattooed window salesman raped the mother-to-be, who was the girlfriend of his closest friend and second cousin Ryan Mayes, then slashed her throat and stabbed her in the abdomen.
In an attempt to disguise his crimes, he then set fire to her home in Newport, south Wales, which was ready for the imminent arrival of baby Kelsey May.
The blaze also claimed the life of Miss Grender’s pet dog, burning slowly for two hours before it was discovered by a frantic neighbour.
But “arrogant” and calculating killer Whant, who left Miss Grender’s parents sickened with claims that he had consensual sex with her hours before her death, was brought to justice yesterday.
Despite throwing away the murder weapon, Whant, 27, of Bettws, near Newport, was caught after DNA evidence was found at the scene and in his car.
And the jury at Newport Crown Court rejected his lies that the reason he was driving near Miss Grender’s flat near sunrise was to “pick up fags” from his grandmother’s house.
Whant appeared to yawn as the jury found him unanimously guilty of four counts of murder, rape, child destruction and arson.
Mr Mayes looked at Whant and shook his head gently at each verdict.
Judge Mr Justice Griffith Williams told Whant that the murder of Miss Grender had “left her family, Ryan Mayes, and her friends bereft.
“The subsequent loss was compounded by the knowledge that her murderer had raped her and then tried to destroy her body.
“The grief was made all the more deep because you did not scruple to make the wholly false allegation that she had consensual sex with you.”
The judge said Whant had acted with “quite extraordinary hypocrisy” after the murder of the teenager was discovered. “You even took flowers to the Grender household.”
He said that having listened to his evidence he concluded that he was a “calculating, vain and devious” individual.
The judge said the full facts of what happened in the early hours of February 5 2011 may never be known.
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