Asylum seeker raped pregnant woman in her own bedroom

AN AFGHAN asylum seeker raped a pregnant woman at knifepoint in her bed after breaking into her house to ‘fulfil his sexual needs’, a court heard yesterday.

Aryan Rashidi also used a ladder to climb in through a window of another home and tried to sexually assault a woman as she slept next to her husband with their baby in a cot in the same room.

When Rashidi, who arrived in the UK hidden in a lorry, was caught, he claimed he had not yet arrived in the country when the rape occurred and insisted that he was a child. He said he was 15 or 16, but a dental examination showed he is likely to be aged 22.

Yesterday Rashidi, pictured, was jailed for life at Leeds Crown Court after pleading guilty to rape and trespass with intent to commit a sexual offence.

Both victims have been left deeply traumatised and have had to move because they no longer felt safe in their homes.

Judge Neil Clark said Rashidi – who pleaded guilty to rape and trespass with intent to commit a sexual offence – would serve a minimum of five years and eight months before being eligible for parole, but warned he could stay in prison for the rest of his life.

The judge told him: ‘Your offending is of the most serious and frightening type. Its very nature points to the level of danger you present to the public. It is hard to begin to imagine more terrifying or humiliating offending than this.’

Prosecutor David Hall said the attempted sex attack took place in June 2016 at a Bradford house Rashidi accessed by climbing up a ladder and into the bathroom.

In October 2016, he again broke into a stranger’s home through a small bathroom window, and this time raped a woman in the early stages of pregnancy in bed at 2am.

Mr Hall said Rashidi covered her mouth with his hand and held a knife to her throat. She asked him to take money or a laptop but he raped her.

Robert Stevenson, defending, said Rashidi had known ‘ nothing but a war-torn and lawless country’ in his native Afghanistan.

He added: ‘Rather than just being evil, he is the product of a somewhat traumatic past.’