AN ANGOLAN asylum seeker, who was granted indefinite leave to stay in the UK, raped a frail widow of 89 after tricking his way into her home by pretending to be a policeman.
Six foot tall and 20 stone Mauro Patrice Lopes knocked on the door of the 5ft pensioner in the middle of the night after drinking at a lap dancing bar.
She only unlocked it because she could not see anyone outside through the spy hole, but as she was about to close the door again he approached holding up a card which she could not read.
He asked if she had called the police, giving the impression he was an officer.
When she said no, he asked if her husband or son might have done so, eliciting the information he wanted – that she was alone, Felicity Davies prosecuting told Leeds Crown Court yesterday.
He then pushed the frail seven stone pensioner, who was wearing only her nightdress, inside and despite her screams and resistance, raped and sexually assaulted her in her bedroom before leaving her bleeding and traumatised.
Lopes, 31 of Grantham Towers, Mabgate, Leeds, was jailed for nine years after he admitted two charges of rape and one of sexual assault on March 14.
Sentencing him, the Recorder of Leeds, Judge Peter Collier QC, described the offences as “unspeakable” and vile.”
The effect on the pensioner had been devastating. She had not felt able to return to the place where she had lived for 36 years, now suffered flashbacks, had difficulty sleeping and kept her door locked in the home where she is now resident.
“All that comes because on that night your only thought was your own sexual satisfaction.”
He ordered Lopes to register as a sexual offender for the rest of his life “but as I understand it you will be deported when your sentence is served.”
Miss Davies said Lopes must have seen the pensioner’s frail condition and that she was screaming in pain as he manhandled her.
She bravely tried to fight him and scratched his face getting his DNA under her fingernails.
After raping her he put a pillow over face so that she feared she was going to be suffocated but he then left her. She had to be admitted to hospital because of the blood she was losing.
Lopes had been captured on a CCTV camera nearby and when officers went to see him, two used condoms containing his semen were recovered which bore traces of the victim’s DNA.
His DNA was then matched to the skin she had scratched from him which was on record because of a drink-driving conviction in 2005.
He told police he had been angry that morning after receiving a message that his girlfriend was seeing someone else and was looking for a woman for sex.
Anne Dixon, for Lopes, said he had no history at all of sexual deviance and deeply regretted what had happened after he had been drinking.
The court heard he arrived from Angola seven years ago and was given leave to stay. He had been working as a doorman at a bar in Headingley.
Detective Superintendent Steve Payne paid tribute to the pensioner who “has acted with incredible bravery despite the terrifying ordeal she suffered.”
He said that the DNA link proved the advantage of having a database. “Hopefully he will never be released again in this country,” he said.
The UK Enrichment News 