5.9k Share this
A rapist caught on CCTV carrying his victim through Leeds city centre just minutes before attacking her and then laughing while claiming to be HIV positive has today been jailed for life.
Austin Osayande, 40, was told he will serve a minimum of 16 years in prison after raping a 24-year-old, having grabbed her while she was waiting for a taxi home in 2015.
Leeds Crown Court was told Osayande ‘laughed’ after attacking the woman, who he told he was HIV positive.
Video of the lead up to the attack was initially released by West Yorkshire Police at the time as they hunted for the predator.
But he managed to evade police detection for the next years, until he carried out a second attack in September last year while working as a Hermes delivery driver.
After delivering a parcel he asked to be let in for a coffee. When his victim obliged, he assaulted her in her own home.
Last month he entered guilty pleas to the two charges, one of rape and one of sexual assault, after appearing at Leeds Crown Court via video link from prison.
Today, seven years on from the attack, Osayande was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Judge Guy Kearl QC said: ‘You are a danger to women, whether known to you or strangers in situations where you can get them alone and then force yourself on them.
‘This danger has continued for at least six years. You pose a high risk of causing serious harm to female members of the public.’
Austin Osayande (pictured), 40, was told he will serve a minimum of 16 years in prison after raping his 24-year-old, having grabbed her while she was waiting for a taxi home in 2015
Police released footage of the attacker shortly afterwards in a bid to identify the man, who was dressed in a long black overcoat and trousers. The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had been walking to get a taxi home after a night out in the city when Osayande approached her at around 5am
Osayande’s first offence was raping a 24-year-old woman in Mark Lane in the city on August 14, 2015.
Police released footage of the attacker shortly afterwards in a bid to identify him.
The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had been walking to get a taxi home after a night out in the city when Osayande approached her at around 5am.
He spoke to her and walked alongside her before he picked her up in his arms and carried her to the scene of the attack a short distance away, West Yorkshire Police said.
Wearing a long black overcoat and black trousers and with a shaven head, he was earlier seen in CCTV footage loitering in a car park before approaching a woman on the street.
The shocking footage was released by detectives probing the rape in 2015.
Head of Crime for Leeds District, Detective Superintendent Pat Twiggs said at the time: ‘The footage of the victim being carried off by this man clearly makes for disturbing viewing.
‘We gave very careful consideration to releasing it and secured the consent of the victim who has been left understandably traumatised by what this man did to her.
‘I think the CCTV gives a really stark illustration of the very serious nature of this offence and we hope it will focus the public’s minds on helping us to identify and trace the man responsible.’
The shocking footage was released by detectives probing the rape on Osayande’s first victim in 2015. It shows him carrying the woman (who is blurred out) away in his arms
Osayande was seen approaching a woman (pictured) on Swinegate at 4.45am and he can be seen walking along Briggate
Seven years on, Austin Osayande, 40, (highlighted) has admitted raping the woman, as well as sexually attacking another a few years later
He added: ‘We don’t know if he assaulted her prior to picking her up. We don’t have that on CCTV and the victim cannot be sure.
‘There has obviously been some force during the attack but there was also not a lot of resistance from the victim.’
He was not caught until September last year when he was committed another sexual attack.
While working as a Hermes delivery driver he delivered a parcel to a woman’s home and said he was going to return ‘for a coffee’ later.
The victim let him into her house, but not did make him a coffee and did not have the confidence to ask him to leave, the court heard.
He then attacked the woman in her own home before chillingly telling her he will ‘see her on Saturday’.
Osayande faced a trial after being charged with the rape in 2015 and a sexual assault on a woman in the city on September 10 last year.
But he pleaded guilty to one count of rape and one count of sexual assault by penetration at Leeds Crown Court last month.
He will serve two-thirds before he is eligible to go before the Parole Board who will decide whether he is safe to be released.
Osayande will be on licence for the remainder of his life and he has also been made the subject of an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.
Source: Daily Mail
