Man jailed for raping 14-year-old girl in Leicester

A Leicester man has been sentenced to prison after being found guilty of raping a 14-year-old girl. Aluwas Razak, 30, approached the girl in Leicester city centre, bought her alcohol and sexually abused her, Leicestershire Police said.

Razak, of Stretton Road, Westcotes, Leicester, bought the girl food and took her to the cinema before sexually assaulting her at a guest house in Hinckley Road, Leicester. Video footage released by police shows Razak buying vodka from a nearby shop and withdrawing cash, which he used to pay for the room.

Police said there was little information about the suspect or the crime scene when the rape was first reported, but “a special team worked around the clock and conducted vital investigations to identify the person responsible.” Razak was arrested after officers “sifted through hours of video footage to find the suspect’s face,” police said.

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The girl, now 15, had told specialist officers that on the afternoon of the crime, she was approached and befriended by an unknown man while walking through Leicester city centre. She said that after he bought her food and took her to the cinema, he took her to an unknown location and sexually assaulted her.

Using the information provided, officers obtained video surveillance footage from cameras throughout the city center and searched the recordings to trace the pair’s movements. This led officers to identify the crime scene as the guest house.

On the evening of July 25, as Detective Constable Sophie Bruce was conducting investigations near the guest house, she noticed the suspect turning onto Stretton Road and entering an address, police said. After requesting further assistance, the detective entered the house and arrested Razak, police added.

Razak was charged the following day with three offences – two counts of rape and one count of sexual assault of the teenager. Following a trial at Leicester Crown Court in January, he was found guilty of all three counts and sentenced to 11 years in prison on Tuesday (July 16). He will be subject to a lifetime sexual harm prevention order, police said, and will be placed on the sex offenders’ register.

After the verdict, Detective Inspector Kevin Hames of the Child Abuse Investigation Unit (CAIU) said: “Razak approached a young girl who was alone and, having gained her trust, abused that power to commit the most gruesome crimes. Throughout her ordeal, the girl showed incredible strength. It took extreme bravery for her to describe the details of what happened so that officers and staff could conduct a thorough investigation.”

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