'Dangerous predator' jailed over attempted rape
Leicestershire PoliceA man who tried to rape a woman after driving around Leicester looking for a sex worker has been jailed.
Ghulan Mohammed targeted the young woman and persuaded her to get into his car when she asked if he was a taxi driver.
The 36-year-old, of Princess Street in Burton upon Trent, was found guilty of one count of attempted rape, as well as four counts of sexual touching, one of theft and four more of fraud by false representation.
He was sentenced to seven years and three months in prison at Northampton Crown Court on Friday.
'Terrifying ordeal'
The court heard the victim had been drinking on the night of the attack, when Mohammed was driving around looking for sex workers and noticed her.
After she entered his car he drove her to remote areas, where he sexually assaulted and tried to rape her, before they returned to the city centre.
The victim tried to escape at a petrol station before the defendant took her to a hotel car park, where he tried to persuade her to go to a room with him.
Her friends found her through a location app on her phone, where she was found muddy and bruised and Mohammed was seen with no trousers on.
A week-long trial was held at Leicester Crown Court, where the defendant was found guilty of the five sexual offences, as well as offences relating to stealing and using the victim’s bank card.
Following sentencing, Maimuna Bappa, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said Mohammed “subjected his victim to a terrifying ordeal”.
“The victim had very little recollection of what had happened, other than that she was being attacked and was determined not to give in to [his] sexual advances,” she said.
“The picture of these events was clear – that this is an extremely dangerous sexual predator and that the victim has shown extraordinary courage to resist him during the attack and to give what help she can to the investigation and prosecution.”
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