Rapist who beat victim with rock didn't care if she died, court hears
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Version 0 of 1. A man who raped an 18-year-old woman after dragging her from a bus stop and battering her repeatedly with a stone did not care whether she lived or died, a court has heard. Zdenko Turtak, 22, attacked the woman in Leeds in March and fled to his native Slovakia as a huge search was launched by West Yorkshire police. His victim was left with severe injuries after she was dragged behind a hedge and beaten 18 times with a rock. Simon Waley, prosecuting, told Leeds crown court that the victim had been left “entirely traumatised” by the attack, which was lasted 7min 30sec and was caught by a CCTV camera. He said the woman was waiting at a bus stop when Turtak grabbed her from behind, adding: “She was dragged, to some extent carried, into a garden.” In the garden, which was screened from the road by a hedge, Turtak pushed her to the ground and took a stone from his pocket, which he used to hit her head with “full force”. When she stopped moving, Turtak raped her, Waley said. He also told the court: “The defendant’s actions in respect to the violence he used to incapacitate the victim were consistent with him not caring whether she lived or died.” After Turtak fled the scene, the victim left the garden and collapsed on the path, where two women found her covered in blood. She asked for help and said she had been raped, Waley said. The woman was taken to hospital, where she had surgery for a cut to her head. Turtak fled to Slovakia three weeks after the attack, but was traced and extradited to the UK. Waley said Turtak had been caught on camera stalking other women around Leeds for an hour and a half before the attack. He said: “The prosecution submits this defendant was planning a rape.” Turtak admitted rape and grievous bodily harm with intent earlier this year but denied attempted murder. Earlier this month, the Crown Prosecution Service accepted his pleas. Robin Frieze, mitigating, told the court Turtak, who has no previous convictions in the UK and convictions for minor matters in Slovakia, had said he was “very sorry and cannot understand why he behaved in the way that he did”. Turtak will be sentenced by the Recorder of Leeds, Judge Peter Collier QC, on Tuesday morning. |