Radiet Meles, an Eritrean man who had previously been jailed for attempting to rape an unconscious woman, has been convicted of raping another woman after his release from prison.
Meles, 35, was found guilty by a jury at Cardiff Crown Court of rape and assault by beating following a five-day trial. He is due to be sentenced in November and was warned that he faces a lengthy custodial term.
He was arrested in March after police were called to reports of an attack on another woman. Meles, of West Park Road, Newport, denied both charges.
The conviction comes after Meles was allowed to remain in Britain following a five-year sentence for the attempted rape of an unconscious woman at a house party in Newport in 2018.
He was cleared of rape but convicted of attempted rape in February 2019. The court heard that the victim had been drinking in Newport city centre before going to the party, where she became heavily intoxicated.
Prosecutor Heath Edwards said the woman had little clear recollection of what had happened. Her next memory, he told the court, was waking in the back of an ambulance and being told by a police officer that Meles had been having sex with her.
“That was not something that she had consented to – she was far too drunk for that,” Mr Edwards said.
During the earlier trial, Meles denied having sexual intercourse with the woman. He required a Tigrinya interpreter, and jurors were told that he spoke hardly any English.
Sentencing him in 2019, Judge Christopher Vosper QC said Meles had seen that the victim was heavily intoxicated and “to all intents and purposes, she was unconscious”.
“You had formed an intention to take advantage of her if you could,” the judge told him.
Meles came to the UK in 2015 after hiding in a lorry before travelling through the Channel Tunnel. After spending two days in custody, he was transported to Newport, where he worked at a car wash and an Amazon distribution centre.
Following his earlier conviction, Judge Vosper said Meles was likely to be held in an immigration detention centre after his release and that the Home Secretary was likely to make a deportation order.
However, Meles was allowed to return to Newport after completing his sentence and was not being monitored, the court was told.
