Woman raped on morning walk to work in Leeds: Asylum seeker jailed after sex attack

Filmon Teklay punched the woman and threatened to kill her before sexually assaulting and raping her near the former New Roscoe pub building on Bristol Street, Leeds Crown Court heard.

The court was told Eritrean national Teklay, who was seeking asylum in the UK at the time of the attack, targeted his victim at around 6am on September 3.

The woman, who struggled and screamed for help during her ordeal, said the attack has had a devastating impact.

She wrote in a victim personal statement read to the court by prosecutor Michael Greenhalgh: “I feel like what happened to me has taken my life away from me.

“I constantly feel stressed and depressed and spend most of my time indoors because I’m too scared to go out and I don’t trust anyone.

“I see that man in my mind every day and what he did to me.

“I can’t sleep. I feel dirty and I don’t like myself anymore.”

Teklay, of no fixed abode, admitted charges of sexual assault and rape.

Mitigating, Michael Walsh, said: “He expresses genuine sorrow and remorse for his actions.”

Mr Walsh said Teklay fled Eritrea in 2015 after he was attacked imprisoned by soldiers and feared he would be conscripted into the army.

Mr Walsh said Teklay went to Sudan, followed by Libya and then Germany – where he claimed asylum but was rejected.

The court heard Teklay moved to the UK last December and was claiming asylum in this country and was being housed by the Home Office.

Teklay wept after Judge Rodney Jameson QC jailed him for six years-and-three-months.

Judge Jameson told him: “It will be a matter for the Home Office as to what will happen to you once you are released.

“But the length of the sentence I have had to impose – as I understand the legislation – will mean your automatic deportation.”