Man has been found guilty of raping a teenage girl in Plymouth city center

A man has been found guilty of raping a young girl in a dark alley in Plymouth. Mohammed Abdullah, aged 33 and of no fixed abode, denied oral and anal rape of the teenager in a dark alley at the back of the House of Fraser building in Plymouth city center on October 22, 2022.

But a jury of eight women and four men at Plymouth Crown Court found him guilty after deliberating for eight hours. Abdullah will be sentenced at a later date.

The court heard from prosecutor James Warrington that Abdullah, an Algerian national, was caught on CCTV approaching several women near the sundial in Armada Way throughout the previous evening and into the early hours of October 22.

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One of the women came forward after seeing his picture on PlymouthLive as he appeared at Plymouth Magistrates Court following his arrest, telling police he had asked her where he could find a sex worker. Others were tracked down by police who said Abdullah solicited them for sexual activity in exchange for money both before and after the rapes.

The victim – who cannot be identified for legal reasons – had been to a nearby hotel after an evening with her boyfriend and lost her virginity during consensual sex with him that night. But the court heard the teenager, who suffered from anxiety and mild depression and was awaiting a diagnosis of autism, had felt “weird” after having sex with her boyfriend and had felt “uncomfortable” in his company.

She then left the hotel with a bottle of wine as she felt she couldn’t sleep next to him that night and considered staying with a trusted friend instead.

Jurors were shown footage of the girl walking through parts of the city center, but also of Abdullah, who was first seen with another woman who he claimed was his “girlfriend” called “Tina”. The jury heard that he did not mention them during police interviews, but simply claimed their existence during the trial.

However, during cross-examination he was unable to say where his “girlfriend” lived, what her full name was or where she worked. He simply said she was a “nurse” and that they were still getting to know each other.

The footage shown showed how a woman walked away from him that night after a short time together and how he lurked in a doorway and only came out when his victim approached.

He further claimed she waved at him and he went into the alley first because he was afraid she was trying to lure him into a situation where he would be mugged for his phone and the £20 he was carrying. He also claimed that she started talking about money, grabbed his penis and pulled it out before putting it in her mouth and taking it out 30 seconds later to demand more money.

The court heard how he told police: “If she was raped there would be marks on her body” and added: “I thought she was a prostitute because of the way she was dressed and because she walked past me several times.”

When a sniffer dog found his sperm in the alley, he claimed it was there because he had masturbated to ejaculation after she left the alley. He also claimed that she put the idea of ​​sex in his head, which was why he then started looking for a sex worker.

Mr Warrington accused Abdullah of telling the jury a host of lies about the entire exchange, questioning the existence of “Tina” and suggesting she was just another woman he was targeting that night talked about having sex. He emphasized the young woman’s obvious vulnerability to alcohol and her psychological distress, as well as the testimonies of the numerous women he spoke to before and after the rapes.

He also questioned Abdullah’s explanation of CCTV footage from the alleyway that showed her trying to escape from him after he anally raped her.

In the final part of the trial, questioned by Judge Peter Johnson through Abdullah’s interpreter, the 33-year-old, who was living at his sister’s King Street address at the time of the crime, confirmed that during his stay in Algeria he had worked for the Ministry of Education “im Office for the Residence of Female Students at the University” worked as a cook until he suffered an accident in which he injured his back.

After deliberating for just over eight hours, the jury reached a unanimous guilty verdict on both counts. Judge Peter Johnson, who spoke to Abdullah via video link from Exeter Crown Court, remanded him in custody before sentencing at a later date.

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