Thursday 29 Oct 2009
A 34-year-old Moroccan man has been found guilty of raping a woman at his flat in Leeds after meeting her on the couchsurfing website.
Abdelali Nachet, who lived in the Moortown area of the city, was found guilty of raping and threatening to murder the 29-year-old woman who had travelled from Hong Kong to stay at Nachet's home after he offered his flat as somewhere to stay on the popular travellers' website.
A jury at Leeds Crown Court had failed to reach a verdict at an earlier trial this year but a jury yesterday found him guilty on two counts of rape and one of sexual assault, following the incident in March of this year.
Nachet was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.
The court heard the victim had been using the couchsurfing website to stay at members' homes as she had travelled across Europe. She wanted to visit Leeds and had contacted Nachet after seeing his advertisement on the website, which enables travellers to use each other homes for free accommodation.
After leaving Nachet's home the victim returned the West Midland's and told a friend she had previously stayed with through the website and the matter was reported to local police.
Detective Sergeant Emma Wight, of West Yorkshire Police's Rape Investigation Unit, said: "The sentence of reflects the serious nature of this crime and the abuse of trust demonstrated by Nachet.
"This woman was visiting the UK and had trusted Nachet's motives for offering his home as somewhere for people to stay.
"He violated this trust in the most appalling way and I would like to pay tribute to the bravery and courage shown by the victim in this case who has returned to the UK from Hong Kong to take part in the trial.
"Nachet has preyed on the kindness and hospitality of those using the internet to meet new people and explore new places and hopefully today's sentence will bring some closure to the victim and her family while also acting as a warning to those considering staying at a strangers home on their own."
Following the end of the trial, the victim released the following statement:
"I would like to thank West Yorkshire Police for their help and support in bringing this man to justice and I would also like to express my gratitude to all the staff from the STAR (Surviving Trauma After Rape) project who have helped and guided me through what has been a very difficult time."
A 34-year-old Moroccan man has been found guilty of raping a woman at his flat in Leeds after meeting her on the couchsurfing website.
Abdelali Nachet, who lived in the Moortown area of the city, was found guilty of raping and threatening to murder the 29-year-old woman who had travelled from Hong Kong to stay at Nachet's home after he offered his flat as somewhere to stay on the popular travellers' website.
A jury at Leeds Crown Court had failed to reach a verdict at an earlier trial this year but a jury yesterday found him guilty on two counts of rape and one of sexual assault, following the incident in March of this year.
Nachet was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.
The court heard the victim had been using the couchsurfing website to stay at members' homes as she had travelled across Europe. She wanted to visit Leeds and had contacted Nachet after seeing his advertisement on the website, which enables travellers to use each other homes for free accommodation.
After leaving Nachet's home the victim returned the West Midland's and told a friend she had previously stayed with through the website and the matter was reported to local police.
Detective Sergeant Emma Wight, of West Yorkshire Police's Rape Investigation Unit, said: "The sentence of reflects the serious nature of this crime and the abuse of trust demonstrated by Nachet.
"This woman was visiting the UK and had trusted Nachet's motives for offering his home as somewhere for people to stay.
"He violated this trust in the most appalling way and I would like to pay tribute to the bravery and courage shown by the victim in this case who has returned to the UK from Hong Kong to take part in the trial.
"Nachet has preyed on the kindness and hospitality of those using the internet to meet new people and explore new places and hopefully today's sentence will bring some closure to the victim and her family while also acting as a warning to those considering staying at a strangers home on their own."
Following the end of the trial, the victim released the following statement:
"I would like to thank West Yorkshire Police for their help and support in bringing this man to justice and I would also like to express my gratitude to all the staff from the STAR (Surviving Trauma After Rape) project who have helped and guided me through what has been a very difficult time."
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