A man has been found guilty of raping a 15-year-old girl after he pulled her out of her depth in the sea off Bournemouth beach.

Gabriel Marinoaica, 20, from Walsall, was also convicted of three sexual assault charges over the July 2021 incident.

Judge Susan Evans KC called the daytime attack “brazen” and prosecutors described how the teenager had been in the sea with friends when she was assaulted.

She began playing ball with another group, Bournemouth Crown Court heard, but her friends went back to the beach.

The girl went to fetch the ball after Marinoaica picked it up. He initially refused to give it back, but did so when she asked a second time.

The jury was told he asked her name and age, and said he was called Dabby and from Birmingham.

“It was at this point the defendant pulled at [her] arm and pulled her out to sea,” said prosecutor Ellie Fargin.

“[She] could no longer touch the bottom, she really was in deep water. [She] told the defendant: ‘No, get off me,’ but he ignored her.

“He was touching her everywhere, she was uncomfortable and wanted to get out but the defendant pulled her out further.”

He asked her if she wanted to “smash” – meaning to have sex, said Ms Fargin, but the girl declined.

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The trial was told Marinoaica groped the girl, kissed her and raped her for about a minute with his hand over her mouth before someone approached.

Ms Fargin said he had taken the teenager out of her depth “so he could do what he wanted to do”.

“She didn’t consent, and we say he knew that – he simply didn’t care,” she told the jury.

Marinoaica was arrested nearly a year later when semen in the girl’s bikini matched his DNA.

He was remanded in custody and will be sentenced on 19 April.

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