Rape Victim Giving Evidence Is Forced To Watch Harrowing Cctv Footage Of Attack In Which She Was Smashed Over Head With Bottle And Dragged Into Factor

HSD1 · September 27, 2013

The woman was made to relive her ordeal at the hands of Mohammed Azim

She was forced to do so in front of a jury at Wolverhampton Crown Court

Footage showed Azim smashing her over the head with a bottle

Dragged her into a factory by the hair and subjected her to a 25-minute rape

Rape: Attacker Mohammed Azim was jailed for a minimum of 16 years at Stafford Crown Court on Friday

The victim of a rape was forced her to watch harrowing CCTV footage of the attack in front of a jury.

The woman was made to relive her terrifying ordeal at the hands of Mohammed Azim, 31,at Wolverhampton Crown Court.

Footage showed the moment Azim smashed her over the head with a bottle at a bus stop in in Oldbury, West Midlands, before dragging her into a nearby factory by her hair.

She was then subjected to a 25-minute rape ordeal, which was all captured on the firm's CCTV security cameras.

Azim, who was drunk and high on cocaine at the time of the attack in November last year, denied three charges of oral rape.

His not guilty plea meant his victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was forced to watch back the video in court during Azim's trial so she could be properly cross-examined.

Azim was found guilty of all charges on May 28 and was jailed for a minimum of 16 years at Stafford Crown Court on Friday.

After the case outraged anti-rape charities condemned the 'appalling' decision by legal teams to put the victim through the torture of viewing the footage.

Yvonne Traynor, Chief Executive of Rape Crisis, said: 'The Criminal Justice system have vowed to consider the feelings of victims of this heinous crime but this lack of consideration shows a contempt for the guideline and utter contempt for the feelings of the survivor.

'The judge had an opportunity to decide what to do and blatantly made the wrong decision.

'I am appalled this woman had been through enough and then to be shown this in court to torture her again shows an appalling lack of consideration and common sense.'

Judge Michael Challinor branded Azim a danger to the public and ruled he should only be released one a parole board consider it safe.

Shocking: The woman was made to relive her terrifying ordeal at the hands of Mohammed Azim, 31,at Wolverhampton Crown Court

He also extended Azim's period of licence by four years, making the total sentence for the rape offences 20 years.

Sentencing him, Judge Challinor said: 'You saw an opportunity to attack this vulnerable and defenceless woman. There was significant planning involved.

'Having engaged her in conversation, pretending to offer her help, you hit her on the head with a bottle.

'You could be seen on CCTV dragging her by her hair to nearby factory premises.

'It was a sustained sexual attack, you threatened to kill her - it's quite clear she thought her life was in danger - a horrific and shocking set of offences.

Justice Secretary Chris Grayling said victims of rape and other horrific crimes would be spared the ordeal of brutal cross-examination in open court

'When you had finished with her, you left her traumatised and frightened. In spite of clear evidence at trial, you continued to maintain your innocence.

'You are lucky to have escaped a mandatory life sentence.'

The court heard Azim, from Oldbury, had previous convictions for manslaughter and kidnap involving the death of a man in a canal.

Defending Amanda O'Mara said: 'These actions that night were complicated or motivated by that cocktail of alcohol and drugs.

'Something must have triggered his behaviour.'

In June this year, Justice Secretary Chris Grayling announced victims of rape and other horrific crimes would be spared the ordeal of brutal cross-examination in open court by giving their evidence before the trial.

The plans mean victims will be allowed to record their testimony on video in advance of the case going to court.

A series of pilots will see vulnerable victims given the chance to give evidence out of court with the footage played to the jury.

The announcement pleased victims' groups who have warned that children have been 'thrown to the wolves' in court.

In one recent case a rape victim who was abused by a sex grooming gang from the age of 13 endured 12 days of questioning in a 'forensic examination'.

Another vulnerable victim in the same case had to read out line by line from a police statement she gave detailing alleged sexual abuse by her stepfather.

But critics say the move could raise concerns among lawyers over whether defendants are getting a fair trial and whether the evidence used against them is properly scrutinised.