Rugby professional sex attacker jailed for 18 years after rape of two women

A PROFESSIONAL rugby player expelled from Princeton University for committing a sex attack has been jailed for 18 years after raping two women in London.

Paulo Kretteis, 22, earned a scholarship to the Ivy League university, in New Jersey – but was thrown out in May 2019 after a proven allegation of “non-consensual sexual intercourse” following an internal investigation, Isleworth Crown Court heard.

The dual Brazilian national, who had been selected for Brazil’s under21s rugby team, was found guilty of raping two women and making a threat to kill following a trial in January.

Kretteis, of Northolt, west London, who played rugby professionally for the Ealing Trailfinders, previously pleaded guilty to two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH).

Judge Giles Curtis-raleigh jailed him for a total of 18 years yesterday with a five-year period on extended licence.

He told Kretteis: “In both their cases they were in no position whatsoever to resist the violence, both sexual and physical, you inflicted on them by reason of your considerable size and strength.”

The judge said his expulsion from Princeton had been the “most plain and unambiguous warning” about his behaviour towards women.

“It is a measure of your arrogance and lack of respect for women that, instead of being deterred by what happened in America, you went on to commit the serious offences for which I have to sentence you today,” he said.

Kretteis was jailed for 10 years for the first rape and handed a consecutive eight-year term for the second, with a five-year period on extended licence, as well as concurrent sentences of three years and 11 months for the ABH offences and four years for making threats to kill.

He will serve at least two-thirds of his sentence before he is considered for release.