Copyright dailyrecord
An Afghani asylum seeker who raped a vulnerable teenager in a brutal attack at a town park after claiming he would be her "boyfriend" was facing a jail sentence today. Rapualla Ahmadze was caught on CCTV walking the streets of Elgin, in Moray, in the early hours of the morning before approaching his victim sitting on a bench. The teenager, then aged 17, later told police that the stranger, who was bearded and spoke with a foreign accent, stopped in front of her and asked if she had a boyfriend. She said when she replied that she did not he "told me that he was my boyfriend now". The victim said she was struggling with mental health issues at the time and sometimes went for a walk a night and listened to her music. He pulled her up off the bench and started walking her towards a play park with an arm around her waist and his other hand touching her right breast. She said: "When we were walking towards the park I kept thinking I need to get away. I tried to pull away from him three times. When I did this the man pulled me more towards him." The teenager said she was scared she would make him mad if she continued to try and get away. She was taken to a "tunnel" and pushed to the ground and her top was pushed up and her attacker kissed her breasts before he molested her further. She was then walked towards bushes where he used both hands on her shoulders to force her to the ground. She said: "I ended up on my back. When he did this the man was in front of me and leaning over me." He pulled down her bottoms and underwear and underwear and raped her. She said I kept saying "ow" and "no" to him. The man completely ignored me when I was saying this," said the teenager. The victim tried to push away from him but his hands were on her thighs. After the assault she was subjected to oral rape when her attacker grabbed her hair and pushed her head onto him. The victim said that afterwards she saw another man walking along a path in the park. The teenager said she needed to go and raised her voice to get the attention of the other man and went over to him and asked for help. John Donald, 28, told the court that when the victim approached him her hands and arms were shaking. He said: "I felt a sense of scaredness." He said: "The size difference between the male and female was noticeable. The female was little and the male was bigger." "The female came up to me. At this point she was physically shaking and immediately asked for help. She was crying by this time. She was really struggling to catch her breath. It was like she was hyperventilating. She told me she needed help and asked me to walk her somewhere." During a phone call the girl had told a friend that she had been raped and Mr Donald suggested she go the hospital . The victim went to Dr Gray's Hospital in Elgin and spoke to staff and police were alerted. Ahmadze, also known as Rafiullah Ahmadzai, 21, denied raping the teenager at Cooper Park, in Elgin, on August 4 last year after following the victim. Ahmadze claimed that sex was consensual, the victim was happy and instigated what occurred. He told the High Court in Edinburgh through an interpreter: "When we went to the bushes I wanted to leave but she wanted to have sex with me and then we have sex." Ahmadze claimed that he was out in the early hours of the morning because he was hungry and looking for a pizza restaurant. During his evidence to the court he claimed he was born in 2007 and was currently aged 18. During an interview with police last year he said he did not remember his date of birth but claimed that at the time he was 17. Immigration authorities provided a date of birth in January 2004. Ahmadze was unanimously found guilty to raping the teenager and was convicted of threatening behaviour on two occasions between March 1 and April 30 last year at a house in Dufftown, Moray, when he acted aggressively and demanded money and the provision of a new shower. Ahmadze was staying at a hotel in Elgin at one stage but was later rehoused. After the verdicts the trial judge Thomas Welsh KC told him: "Custody is inevitable in your case." Ahmadze was placed on the sex offenders' register and remanded in custody while a background report and risk assessment is prepared on him ahead of sentencing next month.
