Man befriended victim before raping her for more than an hour in 'brutal piece of criminality'

A sex attacker befriended a woman before luring her to a secluded spot and raping her for more than hour in a "brutal piece of criminality".

Ablolom Okbazge, 27, met the victim in Wigan town centre in December 2021 where she had been on a night out with friends.

Okbazge was spotted on CCTV hanging around when he came across the woman who the judge ruled as ‘heavily inebriated’ and ‘clearly particularly vulnerable’.

“It’s clear from the CCTV that once you saw her in the state she was in, you changed direction and your focus onto the victim,” said Judge Tom Gilbert.

He then took the victim to the staircase at the back of the bar and raped her for over an hour, stopping her from getting away when she tried to escape.

Ozbazge denied the offence of rape, but was found guilty by a jury following a trial. 

In a statement to the court, the victim said: “Since it happened I have not been able to speak to anybody about it without breaking down. 

“This has stopped me from trying to deal with it mentally. I have not been able to speak with my family or friends about what happened as I find it too upsetting to talk about and I feel completely ashamed.”

The victim also said she now suffers with severe anxiety when she leaves the house and the attack has changed her as a person. 

“Initially I blamed myself for what happened because I got so drunk that evening - but nobody had the right to do what he did to me. Especially when I was in that condition,” she said.

Defending, Gerald Baxter said his client, who originates from Eritrea in Africa, had met the woman and befriended her because she was ‘so clearly heavily intoxicated’.

Sentencing, Judge Tom Gilbart said: “This was a brutal piece of criminality. It was obvious to anyone seeing this lone, extremely drunk woman, that she needed help.

“Your actions on seeing her was to take to her a secluded place and rape her in a prolonged and deeply unpleasant attack.

"All that misery for your victim because you decided to use her for your own sexual purposes.”

Okbazge, of no fixed abode, was jailed for nine years, of which he will serve two thirds of his sentence in prison before he will be liable for deportation.

Detective Constable Ray Williams of GMP’s Wigan division said: “What Okbazge did that day is likely to affect the victim for the rest of her life and the trauma will not simply go away just because the court process has concluded.

“I would like to thank the victim for her resilience and bravery in reporting this incident to the police and giving us the opportunity to put a dangerous man in prison.

"I believe that because of her bravery, this has prevented the same thing happening to somebody else."

Greater Manchester Police says it has increased their presence during the night-time economy in various towns across their area in a renewed effort to make communities safer, particularly for women and girls.