Man Found Guilty of 'Truly Horrendous' Double Rape of Queer Woman

A U.K. man was found guilty this week of kidnapping and twice raping a queer woman he had lured into his car under false pretenses last April.

It took the jury of eight men and four women roughly two hours to convict Yuseab Woldeab, 28, of the charges at Plymouth Crown Court in England, according to the Plymouth Herald.

During the four-day trial, prosecutors alleged Woldeab had been "prowling the streets looking for a victim" before he lured the woman, who was intoxicated, into his car by falsely claiming he was a taxi driver, then taking her to his Plymouth flat, where he raped her vaginally and anally.

The unidentified queer woman, who is in her 20s, was able to escape the flat while Woldeab was in the bathroom.

"This was a truly horrendous and disturbing crime," Chris Kinski, senior investigating officer detective for Plymouth's Sexual Offenses Investigation Team, told reporters outside the courtroom following the verdict. "Woldeab could see that the victim was vulnerable, as she was heavily intoxicated. He used this entirely to his advantage when approaching her that night. We believe he had been prowling the streets looking for a victim prior to spotting her."

During the trial, prosecutors told the jury that the victim had spent the evening drinking and barhopping with friends before she attempted to walk home alone early the following morning. Closed-circuit TV footage showed Woldead driving around the area, which is known for the presence of sex workers, before observing the victim. He circled back and pulled up alongside the woman, who then approached the passenger side window.

After a few seconds of conversation, the woman got into the vehicle which sped off so quickly the passenger door was still open as the car accelerated. The woman said she only asked "taxi?" before getting into the vehicle.

Woldeab, who said he had been looking for an open convenience store to purchase cigarettes when he encountered the woman, claimed the woman approached him looking for sex and asking about his preferred sexual positions. He said they both had indicated a preference for a "normal position" during sexual intercourse and agreed to have sex. According to Woldeab, the victim said he was her "type." Once back at his apartment, he claimed the woman "initiated everything by herself" and began "grabbing my neck and kissing me" after he returned from the bathroom to freshen up.

The woman said that was not the case. She claimed he said he only wanted to stop by his residence to pick up something. Of the incident, she told police, "All I remember is pain" and "feeling a bit paralyzed."

The court also heard from the victim's partner, a woman who said the pair had been in a sexual relationship for a year. The victim told the court she had known she was gay from an early age, did not consent to sex with Woldeab, and had never had sex with a man.

A cheer of "Yes!" was heard from the woman's friends in the court as the verdict was read.

Judge Peter Johnson remanded Woldeab into custody until a presentencing report determining the rapist's potential threat to the community could be delivered to the court. Johnson warned the jury the report could take up to three weeks to be produced but that he expected the case would be wrapped up this month.