Rapist ‘lured’ young woman to secluded Churchyard area in early hours

Aymal Ali, 38, was on Bradshawgate in the town centre in the early hours of May 4 last year when he met the young woman, who had been out socialising with friends.

Bolton Crown Court heard how the young women left her friends to go home at around 3.10am that morning when Ali saw her.

Prosecutor Charlotte Rimmer said: “She said she needed to go to the toilet and asked if he knew where it was.

“He said that he did and then took her to a field.”

The case was heard at Bolton Crown Court (Image: Anthony Moss)

Ali, who appeared in the dock wearing a grey top and black trousers, listened through an Arabic interpreter as Ms Rimmer told the court what happened next.

She said that he led her to a field that is attached to St Peter’s Church in Bolton town centre where he raped her as she went in and out of consciousness.

Ms Rimmer said that he had not used protection and Ali, who has a long history of sexual offences, was already serving a suspended sentence for a previous crime.

The prosecutor said that after the assault Ali and his victim then went elsewhere in the town and then to the interchange before she before she boarded a bus home.

After the victim reported the incident, police officers investigated CCTV footage and saw Ali and her entering the field at around 3.26am and leaving after 5am.

Ali, of Willows Lane, Deane, was arrested on Oxford Street in the town centre and when interviewed by police denied having had sex and denied entering the churchyard.

But a DNA profile connected him to his victim.

Ali, who has six previous convictions for six offences including sexual assault and exposure, indicated a guilty plea to rape a matter of days before what would have been his trial.

The court listened as the victim’s mother laid bare the effect Ali had had on her daughter and her family.

She said: “Her innocence was taken away unwillingly. You stole that from my daughter.”

The mother said that Ali had prolonged the proceedings by “constantly interfering with the court processes” by changing his pleas and failing to comply with his obligations.

Harriet Lavin, defending, accepted that Ali’s mitigation was “extremely limited” but said he had earned credit for his eventual guilty plea.

She said that this meant his victim had not had to give evidence at a trial.

Judge Abigail Hudson said that it was clear to her that the victim was “extremely vulnerable” in the circumstances.

She said: “After tricking her into a secluded area you raped her as she was going in and out of consciousness and clearly wasn’t consenting.”

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Judge Hudson said Ali’s crime had had a “profound impact on the wellbeing of a very young woman” and that he “presents an ongoing danger to women generally”.

She said that Ali had proven himself to be “entirely manipulative and dishonest” and had shown no insight or intention to change.

Judge Hudson jailed Ali for eight and a half years and ordered he will serve at least two thirds of it in prison before he is eligible for parole, with an extended licence period of three years.

She also made him subject to a sexual offenders register notification for life.

After Ali went down to the cells in silence Judge Hudson expressed her “heartfelt wishes” that the young woman is now able to move on with her life.

Source – INDIA TV