Why was pensioner attacker not deported after life sentence?

A convicted rapist carried out a horrific sex attack on an elderly woman three years after he was released from a life sentence and allowed to stay in the country, a court heard.

Ugandan Ramazan Mukalazi, 40, wrecked a young woman’s life after he brutally assaulted her in Hounslow, west London, in October 2008.

Mukalazi stuck his fingers down her throat before forcing her to climb over railings into a grassy area where he raped her.

He was arrested a week later in a pub after DNA linked him to the attack.

Mukalazi was sentenced to life imprisonment and ordered to serve at least eight years at Kingston Crown Court after he admitted rape in March 2009.

The judge had recommended his deportation to Uganda following his release from jail.

Mukalazi served more than 10 years before he was let out in September 2018 but he remained in the country and tried to rape an elderly woman in Hounslow on 2 November 2022.

The victim, in her 60s, was found with a head injury in Martindale Road and taken to hospital.

Prosecutor Max Hardy told The Old Bailey this morning (Fri) a witness ‘described how he was walking to temple on Martindale Road at 5:30am He noticed a parked van and a lady lying on the pavement.

‘She was lying on her left-hand side with her left hand by her face and he could see blood on the back of her hand.

‘There was a man, the defendant, crouching next to her and the witness erroneously thought he was tending to her. He could hear the lady make a gargling sound, but she did not speak

‘The witness asked if an ambulance should be called and the defendant said, ‘Go away’.

He carried on walking until he found a lady and asked if he could use her mobile phone and he called for an ambulance.

‘The witness and the lady walked back to the victim and he saw the defendant drag the victim by the feet into the alley to the side of 128 Martindale Road.

‘He was shocked and thought she was deceased. The lady with him walked away.

‘The witness then went to the temple and used another mobile phone to call the police as he had been told by the Ambulance Service they could only come if the police were in attendance.

When the police arrived, he flagged them down and reported what he had seen.’

The court heard the police attended at 06:11am and entered 128 Martindale Road.

Mukalazi was found in the garden of the property with his trousers around his ankles on top of the victim.

‘The victim was barely conscious and clearly seriously injured, she had a head injury, and her face was covered in blood.

‘The defendant offered resistance to being arrested and was insistent about pulling his trousers up. An ambulance arrived and the victim was taken immediately to hospital.’

Mukalzi was interviewed under caution on 2 November 2022 and made no comment to questions asked.

Mukalazi, of Mitender Road, Hounslow, admitted attempted rape and causing grievous bodily harm.

The prosecution accepted his pleas after he denied charges of attempted murder and inflicting GBH with intent.

Sentencing Mukalzi, Judge Paul Dugdale said: ‘You brutally attacked the victim a 66-year-old woman walking on her own along the street in Hounslow in the darkness of a November morning.

‘You attacked her for the sole purpose of raping her, which you then attempted to do, you beat her to the head causing her to suffer a bleed on her brain which required her to be hospitalised for a week.

‘In 2008 you carried out a very similar rape for which you received an imprisonment for public safety.

‘You committed this second rape within two years of your release for the first, you pose an ongoing risk that you will rape again and in violent circumstances, in my judgment you are a very dangerous man.

‘The injuries [the victim] had sustained [can be] described as a small volume subarachnoid hemorrhage within the frontal lobe of brain, [there was] also a fracture to right wrist extensive injuries to her head.

‘This was a ferocious attack, striking the victim so hard with his fist that Mr Mukalzi caused a hemorrhage to the victim’s brain, both the level of violence used, and the harm caused can properly be described as extreme.

‘This was an opportunistic attack but the opportunity that gave rise to this attack arose from the vulnerable position the victim was in, vulnerable in the timing; alone on the street in the dark, in winter.’

Mukalzi was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 11 years for attempted rape, he was also sentenced to 4 years and 8 months for GBH with intent which he will serve concurrently.

The woman raped by Mukalazi in 2008 had told the court how the attack ‘devastated’ her life.

She said: ‘Following the attack I had to take time off work, as I was unable to concentrate and focus properly.

‘I am not sleeping properly and so I am always tired.

‘I am experiencing constant flashbacks to the attack.

‘The memories have remained with me and I can’t help thinking about the attack all the time. I want to forget, move on as they say, but I just can’t.

‘Accounting for everything, my life has been devastated by what happened on that particular night.’