An asylum seeker from Afghanistan has been jailed for 10 years on Friday for the rape of a “vulnerable intoxicated” woman nearly four years ago.
Musafar Hotak, 25, was convicted after a trial at Southampton Crown Court of the rape and sexual assault by penetration of the woman in the early hours of July 12 2022.
The court heard that the victim had left the Cafe Parfait bar in Southampton when she was asked to leave by the bouncers for being too drunk.
As she attempted to contact her girlfriend, the defendant, who was 22 at the time, began to follow her before a voicemail sent on the victim’s phone heard her telling him to stop.
The court was told that the next thing the complainant remembered was waking up in Hotak’s home, with him lying on top of her, sexually assaulting her, then raping her.
She repeatedly told him to stop but she felt unable to prevent him because he was using “a lot of force”, the court heard.
After she escaped, she contacted police and an intimate swab taken from her was matched to the defendant’s DNA.
Reading her personal impact statement to the court, the victim said she lived in “constant fear” and the attack had “left scars in every part of my life” which had led her to self-harm and an attempt to take her own life.
Musafar Hotak was sentenced to 10 years in prison
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She said: “What happened to me destroyed my life in ways I never thought possible. I didn’t just feel violated, I felt erased.
“Since that day I have lived in fear, shame, silence and unbearable pain that I can’t fully describe.
“I was left feeling broken and empty and terrified of the world around me”.
Judge Gary Lucie sentenced Hotak to a 10-year prison term with a four-year extended period on licence, imposed an indefinite restraining order on him not to contact the victim and placed him on the sex offenders’ register.
He was convicted at Southampton Crown Court
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He told Hotak, who was assisted by a Pashtu interpreter: “The Home Office will consider whether to deport you.
“You took advantage of the victim who was very drunk.
“It is obvious your offending has had a severe psychological impact on her which will probably remain with her for the rest of her life.
“I want to pay tribute to her for her bravery in coming forward and going through what must have been a very difficult time for her”.