An asylum seeker who carried out two sex attacks a
An asylum seeker who carried out two sex attacks at a party in the space of minutes wailed with self-pity after he was locked up at the Old Bailey today.
(WEDS)
A friend of one of Adam Abdul-Latif’s victims had unwittingly tuned in on a rape attack when he telephoned her to ask her the address to the rave.
The reveller became a horrified witness when he heard his friend’s screams for help over his mobile phone.
Abdul-Latif, 27, from Sierra Leone, pounced on his Swedish victim as her pal rang for directions to the party.
The 23-year-old was able to press the answer button on her phone as Abdul-Latif forced her onto the bed at his south London flat.
Her horrified male friend then listened as she tried to fight off her attacker and screamed in vain to other party-goers.
But her shouts for help could not be heard by the revellers because of the loud music playing next door, the court heard.
Minutes earlier Abdul-Latif indecently assaulted another woman at the same party.
He grabbed her in the area of her private parts and made disgusting comments.
Patrick Finnegan, prosecuting, told the court the defendant had asked the Swede along to his party on 29 October last year.
The pair had met in 1999 but were just friends, said Mr Finnegan.
Abdul-Latif met her and a pal at Catford Railway Station before escorting them back to his flat in Canadian Avenue, said the prosecutor.
There, with the party in full swing, the group drank and danced while a cannabis joint was passed around.
‘The atmosphere was relaxed and happy,’ said Mr Finnegan.
‘However, even at this stage it appears the defendant was being a nuisance and he was dancing suggestively with women at the party.
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A short while later Abdul-Latif sat down next to a girl on a sofa, said the prosecutor.
‘He put his hand between her legs and started rubbing her vaginal area through her clothing.
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She pulled away but then the defendant grabbed her hand and put it on his groin.
‘He carried on doing this some five or six times,’ said Mr Finnegan.
The court was told how minutes later the Swedish woman answered her phone to talk to her male friend.
He asked her if she needed a lift home and she told him to come along to the party.
Mr Finnegan went on: ‘Having given him instructions she found herself alone with the defendant in a small bedroom.
‘For whatever reason he started to kiss her and she told him she did not want to.
‘But he took hold of her arms and she began to realise that the situation had somewhat changed.
‘She started to shout and scream for him to stop.
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But at this moment her pal rang again for further directions.
The young woman managed to press the answer button before her arms were pinned down by Abdul-Latif, said Mr Finnegan.
‘Thereafter it acted almost like a transmitter.
‘Other people at the party could not hear what was going on but he could.
‘The defendant bit her lips and neck, taking off her trousers and knickers.
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Abdul-Latif did not wear a condom during the rape attack, said the prosecutor.
Another pal of the victim came into the bedroom and was told by the girl she had been raped.
The police were called but Abdul-Latif fled the scene.
He handed himself into Lewisham police station the next day.
But he denied having sex with the girl.
Swabs taken provided a small semen sample, but attempts to obtain a DNA profile were unsuccessful, said Mr Finnegan.
Interviewed about the indecent assault the defendant ‘said he had been kissing her and she had enjoyed his touching her.
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Abdul-Latif, of Canadian Avenue, Catford, was convicted by the jury of one charge of rape and one count of indecent assault on October 29 last year.
He denied the charges.
Jurors were visibly taken aback as he started bawling and had to be led away from the dock.
The Judge, Mr Recorder Stephen Kramer, QC, remanded Abdul-Latif in custody until June 29 while pre-sentence reports are prepared.
The court was told that the Home Office is currently considering an asylum application from the defendant.
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