Sheraz Malik, 28, was found guilty of two counts of raping a woman in a park in Nottinghamshire – Malik, an asylum seeker, is now due to be sentenced on February 6
A 28-year-old man has been found guilty of two counts of raping a “drunk and obviously vulnerable” woman in a park in Nottinghamshire in June last year.
Asylum seeker Sheraz Malik was on trial at Birmingham Crown Court, accused of raping the woman in Sutton Lawn park in Sutton-in-Ashfield in Nottinghamshire. He claimed he had consensual sex with the woman, who was 18 at the time of the attack on June 29 last year and cannot be named for legal reasons.
A jury of five men and seven women took around three hours to return unanimous guilty verdicts on two counts of rape and not guilty on a third following a trial at Birmingham Crown Court.
It can now be reported that Malik, who lived at an address in Bath Street in Sutton-in-Ashfield at the time of the sex attack, is an asylum seeker who was born in Pakistan and lived in Italy, Germany and France before coming to the UK.
A reporting restriction was put in place at Nottingham Crown Court in September last year preventing any mention of the defendant’s immigration status until the trial had concluded.
Malik, who wore a white T-shirt and black Nike jacket in the dock as he listened to proceedings with the assistance of a Pashto interpreter, showed no emotion as the verdicts were returned.
Judge Simon Ash KC thanked the jury for their work on the case as he told them their duty was complete.
He adjourned the case for a mention hearing on February 6 so a date for sentencing could be fixed and ordered a pre-sentence report to be carried out.
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