The UK court has sentenced a Pakistani care worker on a student visa to 12 years in prison for raping a bedbound woman in Bristol.
The conviction follows Bristol Crown Court finding that Fazli Qadeer, 25, from Peshawar, who followed his brother to Bristol to study at university and worked as a carer, committed the said offense.
According to GB News, Qadeer took advantage of his elderly victim after he learned that the family of the elderly service user would be away during a shift.
He climbed onto her bed, told her he “loved her” and “wanted to marry her”, before kissing her on the lips, touching her breasts and subjecting her to a sustained sexual attack, including oral rape.
Qadeer denied raping the woman and, during the trial, claimed that she had sexually assaulted him.
At the sentencing, his barrister, Jemima Lovatt, said Qadeer had written a letter of apology following his conviction.
She said he had described growing up in “difficult circumstances around a lot of violence and a culture of fear”.
Lovatt also told the court that Qadeer had disclosed to his family since his conviction that he had been a victim of rape as a child.
The defence lawyer said the victim had treated Qadeer with “friendliness” and argued that his “cultural background meant he didn’t understand those manners and behaviours”.
She also asked the court to consider his “background and cultural upbringing” in understanding how the offending occurred.
However, Recorder Sarah Regan told Qadeer that he had been of “previous good character” but said it was “difficult to fathom your motive for this attack other than to consider that you did it just because you could”.
The court heard that several character references described Qadeer’s charitable work and efforts to “make life better for many”.
In a victim impact statement read to the court, the woman said the attack had left her suffering from “severe nightmares” and unable to sleep.
She said she was frightened by noises and feared that Qadeer would return and kill her.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she had begun questioning male friends she had known for a lifetime and had been prescribed diazepam for stress.
She said Qadeer had “taken away my freedom”.
“We still don’t know if he did it to anyone else before but I know I have stopped it from happening again,” she said.
Qadeer is also subject to a restraining order preventing him from contacting the woman.
The Home Office is expected to review his immigration status after he completes his prison sentence.
