Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court (Image: Mark Harvey / Alamy)
Last Updated: 7 hours ago
A rapist who subjected a woman to multiple attacks has been sentenced to 12 years in prison after being found guilty by a jury.
Majid Ali, 56, of Cedar Road, Newport, denied any wrongdoing but was convicted of multiple rapes following a trial at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court.
The victim’s words
Prosecutor Andrew Davies read out the victim’s powerful impact statement to the court, in which she laid bare the lasting damage Ali had caused.
She said: “It will take many years for me to recover from what he has done to me. I’ve been left with deep emotional scars.”
She added: “I often wake up from having nightmares. I struggle to forget what he has done to me. I don’t feel confident leaving my house. I have such low self-esteem and I find it hard to go about my life day-to-day.”
Defence arguments
Joshua Scouller, representing Ali, told the court his client had moved from his native Pakistan to start a new life in the UK and that his early life had been “difficult and deprived”.
Ali has struggled to learn English and followed proceedings through an Urdu interpreter, the court heard.
He was described as a “devout” and “hard-working” man with no previous convictions. The defendant also suffers with heart and back problems and had tried to take his own life whilst being held in custody, Mr Scouller added.
Sentencing
Judge Richard Kember told Ali: “Your victim says you treated her like an animal.”
He added: “You have shown no insight or remorse into your offending and you have not accepted the verdicts of the jury.”
Ali must serve two-thirds of his 12-year sentence in custody before being released on licence. He will be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life and must pay a statutory victim surcharge within three months of his release from prison.
