Blindfold attacker must reveal his identity before he has sex

A gay man who posed as a woman on Tinder to persuade unwitting male victims to don a blindfold and have sex with him must reveal his true identity before he ever has sex again.

Depraved Duarte Xavier, 34, trawled lonely hearts sites masquerading as ‘Ana’, chatting to scores of straight men who were sent saucy photos fooling them into falling for his online persona.

When they agreed to meet up, ‘Ana’ set a series of conditions they had to abide by, including a stipulation that they wear a blindfold throughout the liaison.

Xavier’s first victim, a 45-year-old man, agreed to a hook-up at Ana’s flat on 17 February 2016 and obligingly covered his eyes once he set foot in the bedroom.

He realised something was wrong when they began having sex and was horrified when he whipped off the blindfold and saw Xavier.

The enraged victim stormed out and later received a text from Xavier reading: ‘I got as mental health problem, sorry.’

Jailing him, for 15 years, Judge Michael Hunter ordered Xaiver must always reveal his face and explain that he is male before having sex with anyone.

The judge suggested police might downgrade investigations of sex crimes when the victim is a hetrosexual man after hearing how Xavier was bailed three times.

‘There was something in one of the victim statements. He thanked the police for their assistance,’ the judge said.

‘He talks about a lack of police resources. I can only say that I do hope, and I know the police have to have their priorities, but I do hope that it was not given a lower priority because the victim was a heterosexual male.’

Detective Constable Lucy Marsh, who took over the investigation said: ‘Absolutely not’ and added that no judgements are ever taken by sexual orientation.

Judge Hunter said: ‘I am very pleased to hear that’.

She admitted Xavier had been bailed three times – firstly to gather phone evidence and potential forensics and then he was released under investigation before later being bailed at Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court.

During their enquires police lost evidence relating to the case against Xavier and were delayed in downloading phone evidence because of a backlog in other cases.

Portuguese Xavier had been under investigation for two of the attacks when he committed a further one.

Judge Hunter told Xavier: ‘You have been found guilty of what can only be described as a campaign of deception and obtaining sex by pretending that you were a woman.

‘By pretending that you were an attractive and sexually adventurous young woman you succeed in tempting them into engaging in sex with you.

‘A heterosexual man who is tricked into penetrating a man must find that a horrible experience. You have demonstrated no remorse or understanding for the position of you victims.

‘In the course of this trial you expressed some degree of contempt to one of your victims. One of your victims has been diagnosed with PTSD.’

Timothy Forster, prosecuting, told Kingston Crown Court there had been a substantial amount of planning and deception involved in the crimes.

Xavier’s mother and brother and mother sat in the public gallery as the court heard how he
messaged ‘Ana’ in October 2017 and who told him ‘she’ was a recently single female ‘looking for a bit of fun’.

The pair traded flirty messages over WhatsApp and the oblivious victim arranged to meet for sex in a Wandsworth flat hours after they chatted in a video call.

When he arrived, he heard what he thought was a female voice saying: ‘Stay there, don’t take off and don’t move the mask.’

Someone then crept up behind him and pulled the blindfold tighter, the court heard.

He was led into another room where ‘Ana’ began performing a sex act but the brief encounter ended with disgust when he too removed the face covering.

Xavier sent a series of messages to his victims pleading a misunderstanding but continued to pester him for oral sex.

That victim reported the incident to police and Xavier was arrested on 16 October 2017 on suspicion of causing sexual activity with a person without consent.

He was released under investigation and a number of mobile phones and masks were seized from him.

The third incident took place on 4 April this year when ’35-year-old Ana’ lured another man, 26, to her darkened flat where she claimed to be concealing her identity so as not to tip off her husband to the fact she was having an affair.

As the victim went upstairs, he felt a person grab him and pull his trousers down and throw a pillow case over his head.

He asked for confirmation the person he had been talking to was really a woman but ‘Ana’ told him ‘no’ and began performing a sex act.

But the suspicious date used his phone torch to check and was so horrified he marched straight out to call the police.

Xavier was again arrested, this time on suspicion of sexual assault and later charged with two counts of causing a male aged 13 or over in a penetrative sexual activity and sexual assault.

He was remanded and later bailed at Wimbledon Magistrates Court.

His fourth victim was only identified by police after reviewing phone records from seized mobile phones.

The 29-year-old had been too humiliated to tell anyone of the encounter.

Following their introduction in December 2016, ‘Ana’ explained that she was looking for a ‘role play’ experience where the victim would be blindfolded.

Both parties exchanged pictures and videos and agreed to meet at ‘Ana’s’ address before she claimed her landlady would be home and they must meet elsewhere.

‘Ana’ told the victim they would meet in King George’s Park, in Wandsworth, at around 7pm on 5 December.

Despite chatting in a video call and phoning to check he was heading the right way, the man had no reason to suspect ‘Ana’ was actually a man.

He went to the agreed spot, a secluded area, when ‘Ana’ arrived and performed a sexual act on him before they had sex.

‘Ana’ then left and the victim remained entirely unaware he had just had sex with Xavier.

WhatsApp records of conversations between the pair revealed that the victim had not realized what had happened and at no point did Xavier reveal his true identity.

As a result, the pair arranged to meet again a few days later, on the same terms and same place.

This time the victim held off on putting on the blindfold, curious as to who he was meeting.

As Xavier approached, the pair saw each other and Xavier tried to hide.

When the victim asked what he was doing, Xavier claimed to have believed that the victim was bisexual and approved of the arrangement.

The victim was left distraught by the revelation.

Xavier offered to pay his cab fare home but the victim refused and did not want to be contacted by him ever again.

One of his victims, told the court he wakes up at night and sees Xavier looming over him and fears his ‘sick, twisted fantasies’.

He told how he ‘felt raped’, by the sexual deviant and the embarrassment of being a male victim of a sexual crime.

The man added: ‘In my opinion, the only way the public can be safe from this man is for him to locked up for life.

‘I was a people person and loved meeting new people, getting to know them and sharing experiences.

‘Xavier has caused me server trust issues and I find it hard to open up to people. This has hard a detrimental effect on my relationships.

‘When I found out that “Ana” was actually a male I could not into words how that made me feel.

‘I could not face the fact that I had been sexually assaulted by another man. He made me feel as if I had been raped by him.

‘Personally, I struggled to get the support I needed. I never thought that one match on a dating app, something which is so common all over the world could have such an impact in my life.’

His counsel Helen Butcher explained he was a repressed homosexual for most of his life and when he opened up about his sexuality he was targeted because his homeland’s attitude to gays.

Since being remanded in custody following conviction on October 5 he has been ignored by other prisoners who do not want to associate with him

Xaiver of Wandsworth, of south London, was convicted of six counts of causing a male aged 13 or over to engage in penetrative sexual activity and jailed for 15 years.

DC Marsh said: ‘The crimes Xavier committed are unique in their depravity; all of the victims had no reason to believe that they were not engaging with a woman and all have stated unequivocally that they would never have given their consent to sexual relations with another man.

‘Xavier has demonstrated extreme manipulation and cunning in order to satisfy his own sexual gratification, setting bizarre conditions that the victims adhered to in the belief that they were part of the experience.

‘He is a sexual predator and I hope the victims, all of whom were traumatised by their experiences, will now feel that they have achieved some justice.

‘I thank them for their bravery not only in telling us of their ordeals, but in facing difficult and challenging questions throughout the judicial process.

‘We are also entirely aware that there may be other potential victims of Xavier who, so far, have also felt too ashamed to speak to police.

‘I would ask those people to come forward, to tell us, and we will treat you with the utmost sensitivity and in the strictest of confidence.’