Family gatherings usually represent excitement for growing children, but sisters Megan and Krista Minnock endured nightmares during such events. Kaylum Hay repeatedly subjected his cousin Megan to sexual abuse over several years starting from a very young age.
A court learned that Megan's sister Krista also accused Hay, now 27, of abuse. Because he was under 10 years old at the time of those alleged offences against Krista, prosecution was not possible. He denied all allegations brought against him.
Despite a conviction on eight serious sexual offences against Megan, the predator walked free without an immediate jail term. The sisters reported Hay to police together in 2021, then waited five years before a trial took place in August.
Megan, now 26 and originally from Kent, stated that he stole her childhood and controlled her life up to the present. Canterbury Crown Court heard that Hay forced Megan into sexual acts and raped her twice during his teenage years, with numerous attacks happening during family gatherings.
Megan recalled that the abuse occurred nearly every weekend as Hay found ways to isolate her, noting the final remembered rape happened when she was 15 or 16. She described feeling paralysed by fear while he ignored her pleas to stop, eventually learning that compliance felt safer than resistance.
Hay denied three charges of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, three counts of sexual assault, and two rapes, but a jury convicted him on all eight counts. However, during sentencing on October 2, he received a three-year sentence suspended for three years, avoiding immediate imprisonment.
Prosecutor Allister Walker informed Canterbury Crown Court that Hay, maintaining his denial of wrongdoing, first raped Megan when he was 14. In a statement read by Mr Walker, Megan shared that her ordeal left her deeply affected and massively impacted her life.
Krista, now 28 and living in Cornwall, also testified at the trial regarding childhood abuse allegations. She claimed Hay forced the sisters to perform sexual acts on each other and him when they were very young, though these specific allegations were not part of the jury verdicts.
Defence lawyer Ethan Dighton pointed to Hay's significant developmental and cognitive difficulties, diagnosed as dyslexia, autism, and ADHD, urging a holistic approach instead of imprisonment for a defendant who is now a father. Recorder Duncan Atkinson noted that while an adult convicted of such crimes faces at least four years, Hay's age and immaturity at the time limited sentencing options.
Alongside the suspended sentence, Hay must register indefinitely as a sex offender and abide by a 10-year restraining order. The sisters have now applied to the Attorney General's Office to review the sentence for leniency.
