RAPIST WHO ENTERED THE UK IN THE BACK OF A LORRY JAILED
Mohamed Ibrahim Harun, who arrived in the UK hidden inside a lorry, invited a woman to his flat in Sunderland and assaulted her there in the kitchen.Harun, aged 32 and originally from Sudan, denied that he raped the woman.
Nevertheless, a jury convicted him earlier this year, and he was called back to Newcastle Crown Court for sentencing.
The judge, Carolyn Scott, imposed a sentence of seven and a half years in prison, coupled with a lifelong sex offender registration order.
The court was told that the woman, in her twenties, had met Harun — whom she did not know beforehand — and they went back to his flat for drinks.
CCTV footage captured her fleeing the residence two hours later before she made a police report.
Judge Scott said: “She said in the flat you had forced yourself upon her.
She describes you having raped her in the kitchen.
“She said she didn't want to have sex with you and describes you being all over her and that the sex was forceful and hurt.” Harun, of Roker Avenue, was arrested and initially denied having sex with the woman before changing his story by saying they had consensual sex.
In an impact statement, the victim said: “He just took what he wanted from me.
“I went from having a great day to the worst day of my life.
“I didn't want to have sex with anyone that day, I just wanted to have some fun and enjoy the day.
“I feel like he set it up to get what he wanted and didn't care what I wanted and that I didn't want to have sex.
“I want to just be able to forget all about it but I can't.
“He has stolen my carefree and trusting nature.
“If I think about the man who did this I feel scared and I am terrified at ever seeing him again.
“I just don't want him to ever do to anyone else what he did to me.
I just want everyone else to be safe from him.” David Callan, defending, said Harun, who has no other convictions, does not agree with the verdict of the jury but accepts it.
Mr Callan added: “His entry into the UK, as the probation officer says, was unorthodox, in the back of a lorry.
He immediately received refugee status.” Detective Inspector Martin Cottle, of Northumbria Police's Rape Investigation Team, praised the woman “for her bravery” and “immense strength” in coming forward.
He added: “Thanks to her courageous actions, we were able to provide enough evidence to secure a charge two days later, which has ultimately resulted in this dangerous perpetrator being brought to justice.”
