Kuwaiti raped woman weeks after being given UK status

A KUWAITI migrant raped a stranger on a riverbank just weeks after being granted legal status in the UK, a court heard.

The victim had left a pub in Darlington, Co Durham, when Abdel-aziz Alshamary beat her and raped her on the grassy bank of the River Skerne.

Arresting officer Pc Jackie Mallows told the court: “He kept telling me not to touch him and he also said, ‘I will not speak to you, you are a woman – in my country we speak to men’.”

A jury convicted Al-shamary by a majority verdict after almost five hours’ deliberation. Sentencing was adjourned by Judge Sean Morris, who said: “I would like to see a report looking into his attitude towards women.”

Al-shamary, 21, entered Britain illegally in 2015. He fought to be allowed to stay and received leave to remain as little as two weeks before the assault in May of this year.

Teesside Crown Court heard his bloodied and sobbing victim, a white British woman in her thirties, was found lying face down with her jeans and pants pulled around her ankles.

Heavily intoxicated Al-shamary was arrested nearby and refused to allow a female police officer to touch him.

He was heard to yell: “Do you know Saddam Hussein? I am Saddam Hussein, I will not talk to you, you are a woman.”

DNA from the victim was found on Al-shamary’s underwear, the court was told.

Al-shamary, of Pensbury Street, Darlington, who had been drinking from two bottles of Jack Daniels whisky, denied rape and an alternative count of attempted rape.