Hamilton pensioner jailed for rape dies in hospital

Mar 10 2011 by Leona Greenan, Hamilton Advertiser

A HAMILTON pensioner jailed in 2009 for a series of rape and sexual abuse offences has died.

Giovanni Cocozza (78) was taken to hospital from his cell at Glenochil Prison in Alloa on Sunday after taking ill.

Cocozza, of Low Waters Road, was jailed for 10 years in 2009 after admitting at the High Court in Edinburgh eight charges including rape and lewd and libidinous behaviour.

The well-known local fish fryer and ice cream man, was also placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register.

His 12-year campaign of abuse took place between 1964 and 1976 when he raped a teenager and a woman and abused five other girls in Lanarkshire, Glasgow and Ayrshire.

The abuse was only reported to the authorities in 2007 after one of his victims contacted social workers at South Lanarkshire Council. Police were alerted and it emerged other women had been abused by the pensioner, who was a father-of-seven and grandfather of 15.

Following his sentence almost two years ago, one of Cocozza’s victims told the Advertiser how he had “ruined her life.”

Sentencing him Judge Michael O’Grady QC said Cocozza had inflicted “pain, hurt and abuse of the worst kind” on his victims. “You have pled guilty to an appalling course of conduct sustained over more than a decade,” said the judge.

He continued: “You have stolen their childhoods and have blighted their lives - it is difficult to imagine their ordeal.

“Sadly, no sentence I can impose can change that.”

Cocozza had suffered from chronic kidney disease, heart problems and depression.

A Scottish Prison Service spokeswoman confirmed the death this week.

She said: “Police and next of kin have been informed and a Fatal Accident Inquiry will be held in due course.”

The Advertiser contacted a family member this week but they did not wish to comment on Cocozza’s death.