By M Dowling
An Eritrean man raped a pensioner outside a church while traffic and pedestrians passed nearby, unaware. Bruke Desalagne, a 33-year-old Eritrean man, was convicted of rape after a jury at Harrow Crown Court found him guilty of a prolonged, 20-minute assault on an elderly, intoxicated man outside St John’s Church in Harrow, north London.
According to The Telegraph, Desalagne dragged the defenseless pensioner from a bench to an area behind a hoarding to hide his actions, pausing the assault whenever members of the public walked nearby.
A local resident spotted part of the assault from her window, recorded a portion of it on her phone, and contacted the police.
The jury deliberated for just over two hours before delivering a unanimous guilty verdict. Desalagne, who utilized an interpreter and remained emotionless throughout the trial, initially claimed he was trying to help the inebriated victim but later declined to testify after being confronted with local authority CCTV.
He will be sentenced in the Fall, but will he be deported at the end of his sentence? Most likely not, given the current practices.