A “vulnerable” student was targeted by a man outside a nightclub then taken back to his flat and raped, a court heard.
Jailing Altaib-Ahmed Altigani for nine years at Cardiff Crown Court , Judge Jonathan Furness QC said he had pestered others before saying something to the student which made her go with him.
From forensic evidence a jury found Altigani, a 27-year-old refugee from Sudan, had raped the young woman back at his flat although she had no recollection of it.
She did recall a second rape, later, when she woke up and remembered being unable to get out of his property.
Following a five-day trial in which she was forced to given evidence after he claimed she had consented to sex, the jury also convicted him of the second rape charge and of false imprisonment.
Still suffering effects
In two victim impact statements – one made recently, many months after the attack – the student said she was still suffering the effects of what happened to her that night.
She had had to undergo HIV tests and an agonising wait for the results and was later prescribed medication for anxiety and depression which had side effects and made her upset and lethargic and prevented her from studying.
“I have found if difficult to revise for my exams because my mind is occupied,” she wrote.
“The experience of going to court was worse than I had expected – I felt as it I was the one in the wrong but I am glad I did it.”
Prosecutor Sarah Waters, who read her statements in open court, said “She is still having trouble sleeping and doesn’t want to be in the house alone.
“It will take a long time for her to get her confidence back.”
James Evans, for the defence, said there was no suggestion Altigani, of Corporation Road,Newport , had locked her in his flat but she had claimed that he had stood in front of the door.
Giving his evidence during the trial he had been “emotional” as he described his life in his native Sudan where he said his parents were killed.
“Now, after serving his sentence, he will be deported back there and that deeply plays on his mind,” Mr Evans told the court.
“Of all the countries he went through on his journey he found Britain to be the most civilised and one where he wanted to stay.”
Judge Furness said the jury had, by their first verdict, found the student was incapable “through drunkenness” of giving her consent to sex at the time of the incident in July last year.
“When she woke up at 6am she was disoriented, didn’t know what had happened, and thought she had been there for days.
“She was seen outside at 7am but for an hour or so you prevented her leaving.”
'This was a terrible crime'
The judge said he had watched CCTV footage from inside a South Wales nightclub in which Altigani was pestering a woman and said he had also seen pictures from street cameras.
He told him: “You approached a number of women who were drunk before eventually settling on this complainant.
“She tried to get away from you but you caught up with her. We don’t know what you said but but it is obvious she then went with you.
“You came to the UK through a route we see nightly on out televisions, fleeing from terror, walking through parts of Africa, taking a boat across the Mediterranean and finding your way up to Calais before managing to get across into this country.
“Once here you immediately gave yourself up and claimed asylum.
“I am conscious the sentence I pass will have the effect of returning you to Sudan but that night your behaviour was predatory and this was a terrible crime.
“You picked on a vulnerable girl who has been left so anxious she needs medication. Her life has been affected already for six months and probably will be for a lot longer.”
Altigani, who will be subject to deportation on completion of his prison sentence, waved to three men as the back of the courtroom as he was led away to the cells.
His victim was not in court to see him locked up after he was convicted of two counts of rape and one of false imprisonment.
See-http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/rapist-approached-several-drunk-women-10863634
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