Jail for sex predator in terrifying attack

A sexual predator who jumped on a woman, fracturing her ankle, in a terrifying attack as she returned to her Black Country flat has been jailed for more than three years.

Rajesh Sahota, aged 28, struck as the victim walked home in Chapel Ash, Wolverhampton, at about 2am.

Mr Howard Searle, prosecuting, said: "She put her key in the front entrance door and the next moment was lying on the floor of the hallway with this man on top of her.

"As she shouted for help, he hitched her skirt up and put his hand over her mouth.

"He then punched her in the face with both hands."

Her cries for help were heard by a neighbour who telephoned the police.

Officers arrived soon afterwards but could not open the locked security door from the street and started to smash the glass.

"They could see the attacker dragging the woman across the hall floor to the communal stairs at the rear of the block," Mr Searle told Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday.

Sahota let go and ran up the stairs, letting her slide across the floor to let police in and he was caught.

The victim had her fractured ankle in plaster for almost two months after the attack early on September 18, the court heard.

Sahota, of Dudding Road, Fighting Cocks, who has a previous conviction for robbery, admitted causing grievous bodily harm and sexual assault by touching and was given consecutive jail terms of two years four months and a year for the two offences.

He was also put on the sex offenders register for 10 years by Judge Robin Onions who said: "This was the nightmare that any woman dreads. The victim must have been frightened to death and feared she was going to be raped.

"You were out and about at 2am. The only inference I can draw is that you were looking for something or somebody and it was the fate of this woman to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."