An Eritrean man who raped a pensioner outside a church in London can now be pictured for the first time. This is reported by the Daily Mail.
Bruke Desalagne, 33, pulled the victim down from a bench before taking him behind a construction fence at St John’s Church in Harrow, north-west London, and raping him on a grass verge.
He continued the horrific assault for 20 minutes before a witness saw what was happening from their window and called the police.
CCTV footage showed cars and a double-decker bus passing close to the spot where Desalagne assaulted the pensioner at around midnight on 23 July last year.
The defendant, who used an interpreter during the trial, told police in an interview that he had been trying to help the victim, who was intoxicated and cannot be named for legal reasons.
But after being shown footage from a council camera, Desalagne stopped the interview, spoke to his lawyer and refused to say anything further or give evidence at his trial.
Desalagne had moved the man from a bench to the grassy area outside the building to carry out the assault, before police arrived and found him standing behind the church sign, while the victim was still lying behind it.
Simon Shannon, prosecuting, told Harrow Crown Court: ‘You can see the defendant dragging the heavily intoxicated victim away from the bench where he was sitting and pulling him out onto the grassy area.’
He said the footage showed Desalagne interrupting the assault whenever a passer-by went past.
Defence counsel Bibi Ihuomah said there was no evidence that the pensioner had been raped and urged jurors not to react ‘impulsively’.
The defendant, who was found guilty by a jury, remained emotionless during the trial and sipped water while the footage was shown.
Detective Constable Luke Revill said Desalagne was a ‘dangerous offender’ who ‘targeted a defenceless, vulnerable, elderly man’.
‘Thanks to passers-by alerting police, he was arrested at the scene, charged the following day and remanded in custody by the courts. We are determined to bring sexual offenders like Desalagne to justice.’
‘We urge anyone who has been subjected to similar abuse to contact the police. You will be supported and listened to by the police.’
