Men jailed for rape of Wellington student

Two men were jailed today for the 2007 rape of a 19-year-old woman in the backstreets behind Wellington's main nightclub and bar area.

Chala Sani Abdula, 27, was found guilty by a jury in Wellington District Court of rape and jailed for seven years.

Ahmed Ahmed, 35, was found guilty of unlawful sexual connection and being a partner to rape. He was sentenced to four years' imprisonment.

The sentences were delivered to a near-full public gallery, with friends of the accused and of the victim in attendance.

The rape of the 19-year-old student took place in the early hours of Sunday, April 29, 2007.

The court was told the woman was walking down College Street after drinking on Courtenay Place. She asked Ahmed if she could use the toilet of the business he was working in.

He walked her to, then accompanied her into the cubicle, telling her to sit down and remove her underwear.

Ahmed then sexually assaulted her.

Shortly after, Abdula entered the toilet cubicle, then had sex with her.

The woman then escaped the cubicle and went onto the street, leaving her clothes where they fell.

Ahmed followed her, trying to kiss and hug her. She told him to "f*** off", the judge told the court in his summary of facts.

Initially, Abdula had been called as a witness in the case, but became a defendant when his DNA was found inside the complainant.

Judge Mike Behrens said he was satisfied the men had not planned the rape and sexual assault, and that Abdula had only taken advantage of the situation Ahmed had presented to him.

Abdula was held in very high regard by his community and colleagues and had no prior criminal convictions.

Judge Behrens reduced his sentence by a year for this.

Ahmed had been tortured in his home country and had serious psychological issues from this, the judge said.

"[It is] a regrettably horrific thing to have happened, but the wider community of Wellington needs to have its interests protected," he said.

Judge Behrens recognised that, though he was a New Zealand national, because he did not speak English well prison was going to be hard for him.

"Given your part in the whole affair and that you started this off, in the guise of helping the complainant", Judge Behrens did not make Ahmed's sentences concurrent, but consecutive.

"Her life came to a stop. Her studies and her relationship were destroyed. She is now, as she puts it, `building a new life'."

- NZPA