Adam Ezalden (Image: South Wales Police)
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A 30-year-old man has been jailed for seven-and-a-half years after he was found guilty of raping and violently assaulting a sex worker in Swansea city centre.
Adam Ezalden, of Tontine Street, Swansea, was convicted by a jury at Swansea Crown Court of rape and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. He had denied both charges.
The attack
The court heard the assault took place in 2024 after Ezalden approached the woman on High Street and agreed payment for sex. The pair went to a nearby lane, where sexual intercourse began.
Prosecutor Ian Wright told the court that when the woman asked Ezalden to stop because it was “uncomfortable”, he responded by launching a violent attack – throwing her around, repeatedly punching her, and raping her.
Judge Catherine Richards said Ezalden had taken his victim to an “isolated, dark, back lane” and, after she asked him to stop, had thrown her to the floor, punched her, got on top of her, and continued the assault before raping her.
The judge said Ezalden ignored his victim’s screams and calls to stop, and “appeared to be enjoying the experience”.
The woman eventually broke free and fled.
Injuries and victim impact
The prosecution told the court the woman suffered “significant facial and bodily injuries” during the attack.
In a statement read to the court, the victim said the assault had caused a “profound and lasting impact” on her life, resulting in “significant emotional and psychological effects”. She said she no longer felt safe in places where she had previously been comfortable, had become withdrawn, and had lost trust in people.
Defence arguments
David Leathley, representing Ezalden, told the court his client had come to the UK from Sudan, where his political views “would have singled him out for extermination”.
He said Ezalden’s job at an Amazon warehouse had enabled him to send money back to his wife in Sudan, and that prior to his “fall from grace” the defendant had been “a good and industrious man” whose actions were out of character.
Mr Leathley said male members of Swansea’s Sudanese community who attended court held Ezalden in high regard.
He also invited the court to consider that, given the victim had experienced “appalling behaviour” at the hands of other people through her work, not all the “cumulative” emotional and psychological impacts outlined should be attributed to his client.
Sentencing
Judge Richards rejected that submission, saying the woman was vulnerable by virtue of her line of work and that previous violence she had experienced at the hands of others increased her vulnerability but did not diminish the impact of Ezalden’s actions.
Ezalden, who has no previous convictions, was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison. He will serve two-thirds of the sentence in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.
He will be a registered sex offender for the rest of his life. The court heard he has limited leave to remain in the UK until 2027. The judge said any possible deportation was a matter for the authorities and not the court.
