A 20-year-old man has been convicted of attempting to rape a woman in Merton.
Khaled Argoub of Garratt Terrace, appeared at Kingston Crown Court on Friday, 21 February, where he was convicted of seven offences:
- Two counts of attempted rape.
- Attempt to choke/suffocate/strangle with intent to commit indictable offence.
- Sexual assault by penetration.
- Three counts of sexual assault.
The jury took less than two hours to find him guilty of all the horrific offences he carried out.
During the trial, that started on Monday, 17 February, the court heard the victim, aged in her 20s, was heading home after a night out with her friends on 11 August last year. She boarded the night underground train and was followed by Argoub.
After she exited the tube in Colliers Wood at about 03.30hrs, Argoub ran towards her and dragged her into Wandle Park. He put his arm around her neck, choking her, before attempting to rape her twice. He also sexually assaulted her.
The 20-year-old victim managed to escape and ran to a nearby block of flats pleading for help, police were called, and officers arrived on the scene of the incident with five minutes of being called.
The victim was taken to hospital where she had significant cuts and scratches to her body and reddening to her neck. Her voice was hoarse from the strangulation, resulting in her struggling to speak.
A number of police officers were involved in the immediate area search for the suspect, with the assistance of air support and specialist dog unit, however there was no trace of the defendant.
A detailed search of the crime scene resulted in authorities recovering a baseball cap with a ‘B’ logo on the front of it.
Officers from the Met’s South West Safeguarding Team began an investigation into the sickening incident.
CCTV identified a male fitting Argoub’s description following the victim and filming her as she exited the tube station. He was wearing the baseball cap with the ‘B’ logo found at the scene of the crime. Forensic trace evidence from the victim also matched the DNA profile of Argoub.
He was arrested at 0045hrs on 24 August, 2019 and charged later the same day with the offences listed above.
Khaled Argoub of Garratt Terrace, will be sentenced at Kingston Crown on Tuesday, 31 March.
Editor-in-Chief | Carl D. Pearson has been involved in British politics and media from an early age, with the key knowledge of what it takes to run a news organisation for the 21st century. Mr Pearson, as Editor-in-chief, is responsible for supervising the daily tasks of publishing media and content to UNN’s website and various platforms.
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