FARAH: JAIL FOR ONE LEGGED RAPIST
Central News, Press Room, Central Criminal Court, Old Bailey, LONDON, EC4
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Snaresbrook Crown Court/Sonia Elks
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2 September 2011
leg….1
A one-legged rapist who pounced on a vulnerable 17-year-old has been jailed for six years for the ‘predatory’ attack.
Mohammed Farah, 32, who lost his leg several year earlier in a motorbike accident in Kenya, attended court in a wheelchair today (fri).
He took advantage of the clearly distressed girl during a chance meeting in Barking Park on May 30, 2010, after drinking with friends, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard.
She began confiding in him about problems with her ex-boyfriend while he offered sympathy, all the while intending to take advantage of her, said Judge John Lafferty.
The judge, who is blind said: ‘You ingratiated yourself with this young woman, pretending to offer comfort and sympathy, when all the time, in my judgement, you were looking for an opportunity to advance your own sexual interests,’ he said.
The judge rejected claims Farah’s disability would make a prison sentence significantly more difficult for him than an able bodied man.
‘You are, I accept, suffering from an unfortunate disability, you lost part of your leg in a motorcycle accident,’ the judge told Farah.
‘If that had contributed in any way to what you did, it should have made you more sympathetic to someone in the complainant’s position rather than predatory.’
He said that despite the fact Farah had turned up for each day of his trial in a wheelchair, he was ‘perfectly capable’ of getting around on crutches.
He had also developed considerable upper body strength to make up for the loss of a leg, he said.
‘The fact you were in Barking Park with your friends, drinking, demonstrates to me you are coping very well with your disability,’ said the judge.
Farah had met the obviously distressed young woman in the park, and encouraged her to pour out her heart to him while planning the attack, the court heard.
He had waited until his victim was in a position where he could leap on her and pin her down, before subjecting her to the ‘humiliating’ and ‘predatory’ rape, said the judge.
As he encouraged her to keep talking, he waited until she was in a position that left her physically vulnerable before leaping on her and pinning her to the ground.
The victim was only able to escape by pretending to submit to his advances and waiting until she had a chance to run.
The attack had resulted in ‘very unpleasant and severe psychological consequences’ for the woman, said the judge.
‘It was a nasty offence, it was an offence characterised by complete callousness on your part to a young woman who was labouring under severe emotional difficulties at the time, which must have been clear to you.’
Farah of Hurstbourne Gardens, Barking, was found guilty of one rape on a woman on 30 May 2010, and cleared of two further rapes on a second woman on 24 March 2010.
He was given a six year prison sentence for the rape, and must also sign the sex offenders register for an indefinite period.
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