Palestinian Asylum Seeker Bides Time by Raping British Women

A Palestinian man has been convicted of raping a woman in Glasgow city centre and assaulting another months earlier.

Failed asylum seeker Mohammed Al Dehshari, 28, raped the 30-year-old, who had been working as a prostitute, in Washington Street in October 2012.

He was caught after his DNA was found on the victim and later connected to an attack on another prostitute at a flat in Sighthill 18 months earlier.

Sentence on Dehshari was deferred and he was remanded in custody.

The High Court in Glasgow heard how a smiling Dehshari approached the rape victim on 10 October last year and guided her to a "lonely spot" in Washington Street.

'Going mental'

The woman said everything appeared fine until she insisted he use contraception.

She told the trial: "He started going mental. He started punching me on the face and pulling my hair.

"I gave him the money back. I felt if I did not, he would go further and it would be a lot worse."

Dehshari then demanded his victim strip despite her pleas to be left alone.

He then raped her before tossing a £20 note at his crying victim.

She said: "He threw it on the ground like I was a piece of rubbish - that's all you are worth."

The court heard she initially did not want to report the rape fearing she would not be believed but later contacted police after confiding in a friend.

DNA link

Dehshari was identified as a suspect after his DNA was found on the victim.

He was then linked to another incident against another prostitute 18 months earlier.

The 21-year-old woman had agreed to go to Dehshari's flat in the Glasgow's Sighthill area after he met her in the city centre on 26 April 2011.

The court heard, once at the property, Dehshari became enraged after again refusing to wear contraception.

He grabbed the woman's hair, pulled out her ear-ring and threw her to the ground.

She managed to escape before alerting police, who found her to be "distressed and dishevelled".

Dehshari had also been accused of attempting to rape the 21 year-old woman, but the jury returned a not guilty verdict, while convicting him of assault and raping the 30-year-old woman.