Cardiff Castle rapist jailed for 10 years after DNA evidence

A predatory man who deliberately targeted an intoxicated transgender person before raping them in the secluded grounds of Cardiff Castle has been handed a decade behind bars.

Yusuf Nur cynically exploited his vulnerable victim after they became separated from friends during an August 2025 night out in Cardiff city centre. The 48-year-old spotted the young person sitting alone on a Queen Street bench and saw an opportunity.

Cardiff Crown Court heard how Nur engaged his victim in conversation, specifically questioning their gender identity. When they explained they identified as male but had a female body, he asked whether they’d undergone surgery.

Prosecutor Ieuan Bennett told the court: “The defendant was obviously checking to see if his potential victim had a vagina and it indicated a degree of planning.”

Despite the victim already being intoxicated, Nur plied them with more alcohol from cans he was carrying in a backpack. He then began sexually touching and kissing them before putting his hand under their clothing to touch their genital area.

Mr Bennett said: “He was clearly checking to see if they anatomically had a vagina.”

Nur then led his victim to a secluded green space within Cardiff Castle’s gardens, where he removed both their clothing and proceeded to rape them orally. The victim repeatedly told him to stop and said they wanted to rejoin their friends, but Nur simply replied: “Yeah, yeah, in a minute.”

The terrified victim eventually managed to escape and ran from the scene, falling over in their panic and suffering a nosebleed. They left their phone behind in their desperation to get away.

Within minutes, they reported the attack to police officers in the city centre. Nur was found walking nearby and arrested. He initially claimed the victim had simply walked off when they reached the castle gardens.

Nur, of Tyndall Street, Cardiff, originally pleaded not guilty at a plea and trial preparation hearing. However, after DNA evidence from the victim was found on his penis, he changed his pleas to guilty.

Judge Paul Hobson didn’t hold back during sentencing, telling Nur: “I’m quite sure that you targeted them because they were intoxicated and I’m quite sure that from the outset you intended to sexually assault them. You set out to give them more to drink from the cans you had with you. You followed that up by kissing them and touching their genital area under their clothing again making sure that they had female sexual organs.”

The judge added: “It was a deliberately untruthful act, you did not need forensic evidence to tell you you had committed those offences.”

Judge Hobson noted that Nur had shown no meaningful remorse for his actions and said: “A person who behaves like this is plainly a very significant risk to the public.”

Nur was sentenced to 10 years in prison and made subject to an indefinite restraining order protecting his victim. The court heard this was his first custodial sentence, though he had two previous convictions for unrelated offences from 2019.

Defence barrister Adam Sharp told the court Nur had never committed similar offences before.