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Zimbabwean raped student, 19, who took wrong turn in Leeds centre
West Yorkshire Police supplied picture of Ngwenya.
A ZIMBABWEAN teenager tricked a student into an alleyway and then raped her after pretending to show her where to catch a safe bus home.
The girl, who was 19 at the time, was waiting near the Headrow in Leeds to catch the bus in the early hours of November 11 after a night out, when she was approached by Njabula Ngwenya.
CCTV cameras showed how she was guided by him to an alleyway which led to the rear yard behind a pub.
As soon as she got there she knew something was wrong and told him: “This isn’t right, it is not the right way,” Mehran Nassiri prosecuting told Leeds Crown Court yesterday.
As she turned to walk away Ngwenya grabbed her arm and pulled her into the yard. He pushed her on to the ground near bags of rubbish and when she began to shout he put at least one hand on her throat and applied pressure.
She was no longer able to scream and was struggling for breath. She was petrified and trying to kick out as he told her: “Shut up or I’ll kill you.”
Fearing for her life she told him to do what he wanted but to let her go. He bit her neck before he pulled down her lower clothing and raped her without using any protection.
Afterwards he left the scene and rejoined a friend who was waiting outside the alley. The traumatised student made her way out to the road where she was seen in a distressed state by police officers and told them: “I’ve just been raped.”
Her attacker was arrested at Leeds City Museum four days later after a member of the public recognised him from a CCTV image following publicity about the crime.
Ngwenya, 19 of Kendal Drive, Halton Moor, Leeds was sent to a young offender institution for six years four months after he admitted the rape.
Judge Sally Cahill QC told him students were entitled to stay out late in safety in Leeds “without predators such as you preying on them.”
“She was a stranger to you, she was taken to a dark alley, which must have been absolutely terrifying for her.”
The experience would be with her psychologically for the rest of her life.
Ian Cook for Ngwenya said he was an intelligent young man who came from a respectable family and had ambitions to be a lawyer but that future had now gone as a result of his disgraceful actions that night.
He had limited recollection of what had happened but acknowledged “this was a dreadfully shocking attack.”
After the case Detective Chief Inspector Lisa Griffin, of West Yorkshire Police Homicide and Major Enquiry Team, said: “Ngwenya cynically lured the victim into a deserted alleyway and subjected her to a terrible attack after befriending her on the street and offering to show her where to catch a bus home.
“His depraved actions had a massive impact on the victim and left her traumatised. We hope she can find some degree of comfort from knowing he has now been brought to justice.
“This case again demonstrates the absolutely vital role the DNA database plays in police investigations given that it allowed us to quickly identify Ngwenya as the suspect. I would also like to pay tribute to the members of the public who alerted the police to Ngwenya’s whereabouts after we publicly circulated his details.”
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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DianaFromMadrid
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 03:54 PMAre we allowed to hope that this criminal will be deported once he has served his sentence? Or is the European Court of Human Rights going to tell us that because he has a girlfriend, or a cat, or a pet monkey perhaps, that he will be allowed to stay in the UK?
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