A failed asylum-seeker who raped a vulnerable young woman on the stairway of a block of flats, treating her as ‘a disposable sexual commodity,’ has been jailed.
Afghan Masud Wakilki, who was deported in 2010 but came back last year via Italy, had denied raping his 18-year-old victim, but was found guilty by a jury at Warwick Crown Court.
Wakili (27) of Foleshill Road, Coventry, was jailed for eight years and ordered to register as a sex offender for life – but is expected to be deported when he has served his sentence.
Prosecutor Graeme Simpson said that in September last year Wakili approached his victim, a young woman who it was obvious was vulnerable, in Coventry city centre.
She had already drunk a lot, but Wakili took her for another drink, a double vodka and Coke, before taking her to a block of flats, where he had the key to a friend’s flat.
But instead of going there, once they had gone up in the lift, Wakili took her to the stairwell where he raped her.
They then went back down and out of the block, where he simply abandoned her nearby before returning.
Following the jury’s guilty verdict, Richard Davenport, defending, argued: “There was no significant degree of planning. This was a chance encounter, and on her evidence it was she who ordered the drink, and she says he had half of it.”
Mr Davenport said Wakili first came to this country from Afghanistan in 2007 and was deported in 2010, but nine months ago he made his way back to Italy where he sought asylum.
But he was told that because he was already on the UK system, he had to make the application here – and he was therefore returned to this country by the Italian authorities.
Jailing Wakili, Judge Anthony Potter told him: “As I heard from you, on Saturday September the 9th last year, having had a modest amount of alcohol with friends in a park, you left them and headed into Coventry city centre alone.
“By the time you came across your victim you were equipped with a key fob to a block where your friend lived close to the city centre.”
The judge said the young woman, who gave evidence with the help of an intermediary, has conditions similar to someone with an autistic spectrum disorder, and was clearly vulnerable, quite apart from the amount of alcohol she had drunk that night.
He told Wakili: “It would have been obvious to you that she was vulnerable, not just by virtue of the drink she had taken, but also by her obvious impairment. You struck up a conversation and you took her to a pub.
“There is some evidence you were on the look-out for vulnerable females, but I’m not sure the planning was significant rather than opportunistic.
“I am satisfied, though, that despite the fact she told you she had a boyfriend, and was in frequent communication with him, you decided to have sexual intercourse with her irrespective of her wishes.
“Your purchase of a drink for her was as much assessing how vulnerable she was as adding to that vulnerability.
“You took her off to the block of flats where your friend lived, and it is evidence from the CCTV there that she was so drunk she had to cling on to the walls for support.
“Once she entered the lift she fell down through a combination of drunkenness and tiredness. You became irritated any pulled her up, and then pulled her out of the lift.
“You didn’t even take her to your friend’s flat, you took her to an isolated stairwell.
“Almost immediately she must have passed out, because she has no real memory of the encounter with you, perhaps fortunately in the circumstances because, without a thought for her welfare, your raped her.
“From the time you left the lift to the time you returned re-buttoning your trousers was just four minutes. Whether for the benefit of the CCTV or to suggest she was compliant, you kissed her.
“But your real attitude towards her as a disposable sexual commodity was demonstrated by you abandoning her after leaving the flats; and later you are captured returning with your friend, giving him his key fob back.”
