UK man admits raping a PIO woman in a religiously motivated attack

TOI Correspondent from London: A British man has admitted raping a Sikh woman “who he thought was Muslim” at her home.

John Ashby (32), of no fixed abode, admitted charges of rape, robbery, strangulation and racially/religiously aggravated assault occasioning actual bodily harm at Birmingham Crown Court on Tuesday.

He changed his plea to guilty on the second day of the trial, about an hour after a Sikh member of the public approached the dock and said: “Sort your shit out.”

The jury heard how he followed the woman off a bus in Walsall on Oct 25 last year and forced his way into her home armed with a two-foot stick while she was upstairs in the bathroom.

The woman tried to lock the door, but Ashby barged in, turned the light off and raped and assaulted her.

“Despite her screams, he told her to take her clothes off, struck her with the stick, and put his hands around her neck to strangle her and demanded that she climb into the bathtub. Throughout the attack, he racially and religiously abused her,” prosecutor Phil Bradley KC said.

He told her his name was John and demanded she repeat “his mantra that he was the master”, the court heard. He poured hot water over her and told her to say “Hallelujah”. Ashby then instructed the woman to lie on her bed, saying he was there “to have fun” while referring to his private parts as being “white British”.

The attack only ended because he heard a noise and fled, taking her jewellery and mobile with him. Ashby left his DNA at the scene, including from a toothbrush which he used to clean his teeth following the attack.

When Ashby was arrested in Perry Barr two days after the attack, he told officers: “You never see an Englishman in Perry Barr anymore.” During the police interview, when shown a picture of the woman, he asked: “Why isn’t she wearing a hijab?”