A RAPIST who brutally attacked a stranger on a riverbank after watching hardcore ‘outdoor sex’ videos is likely to be deported once he completes his jail sentence.

Abdel-Aziz Al-Shamary, who was today convicted of rape, originally entered the UK illegally.

The Northern Echo understands he had only been given leave to remain weeks before attacking the woman in Darlington town centre.

Det Sgt Sean Jackson, of Darlington Police, gives a video statement to The Northern Echo about the incident

The 21-year-old, originally from Kuwait, downed two bottles of whisky before grabbing the older woman as she walked home from the pub.

When arrested Al-Shamary, who was living in Pensbury Street, Darlington, told police: “Yours is a bitch country” and “I am Saddam Hussein”.

He also refused to talk to the officer who read him his rights, PC Jacqueline Mallows – saying it was because she was a woman and “in my country we only speak to men”.

After a brief conversation with the victim sometime around midnight on May 16/17 this year, Al-Shamary walked off before doubling back to intercept her.

He dragged her down a bank by the River Skerne, off St Cuthbert’s Way, near the Halfords store, punching her in the face and raping her.

The sobbing victim was left on the ground with a bloodied nose, her trousers and underwear around her ankles, and was warned she would be killed if she went to the police.

Forensic analysis later found her DNA on Al-Shamary’s boxer shorts.
The prosecution said Al-Shamary, who admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm, had been watching internet videos on his mobile phone showing people having sex outdoors and when “confronted with a lone female he raped her”.

Police praised the swift responses of two female friends, Rebecca Winn and Gemma Currie, who went to the victim’s aid after witnessing the attack as they drove past, dialling 999, saying without them Al-Shamary may not have been caught.

Detective Constable Neil Stannard, of Durham Police, said: “They were very brave and I am 99 per cent certain that without them and their accounts we would not have found him (Al-Shamary).

“We never had his DNA and before the incident he was an unknown so the chances of detaining him would have been slim.”

He added: “We are delighted with the verdict, it was the right result and it has been a good team effort by all concerned.

“We would like to give a special thanks to the victim for her bravery and courage in coming forward.

“Despite her ordeal she is now doing remarkably well.”

DC Stannard’s colleague, Detective Constable Richard Garrett said there would be relief at the verdict. He also said police wished to stress to the public that so-called ‘stranger rapes’ of the type committed by Al-Shamary were very rare.

Detectives said Al-Shamary had been “unresponsive” in his interviews, stating he could not remember the incident or answering ‘no comment’.

He originally lived in Middlesbrough after coming to the UK, before moving to Darlington and also spent a period working for a pizza takeaway in Northallerton, North Yorkshire.

The jury in the case at Teesside Crown Court took nearly five hours to convict the defendant of rape on a 10-2 basis and only after Judge Sean Morris had said a majority verdict would be acceptable.

Judge Morris said the case had been distressing for jurors to hear and said, unusually, he wished to ask for a report on Al-Shamary rather than move straight to sentencing him.

He said: “I need to know more about him and his attitudes to the female sex.

“It is clearly going to be a substantial sentence, the only issue is whether it is going to be an extended sentence.”

Prosecutor Paul Abrahams said the authorities would likely seek to deport Al-Shamary after he had finished his sentence.

Al-Shamary, who was arrested in nearby Parkgate after being threatened with a Taser weapon, denied rape and said in his evidence to the court that he merely pushed the woman using a flat hand to her face after she told him to go away.

Minutes before his arrest the court heard how he gone “toe to toe” with a teenager who had been walking to into town to get some food, who said he told her: “Allah is going to get you”.