Pardalian Rostas guilty of raping woman in Glasgow

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-33540203

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A Romanian man has been convicted of raping a 25-year-old woman in Glasgow following a high-profile police appeal to catch her attacker.

Pardalian Rostas, 29, fled back to his homeland after attacking the woman in Dixon Road, Govanhill, on 19 May 2014.

He was later traced and extradited back to Scotland after being identified from CCTV images taken in the area.

At the High Court in Glasgow, sentence on Rostas was deferred and he was placed on the sex offenders register.

The court heard how Rostas attacked the woman while his friend, Mugurel Bancs, 30, kept a lookout.

Charge dropped

Bancs also faced an allegation of rape but this was dropped by the Crown during trial.

Rostas, who has a robbery conviction in Romania, claimed the sex was consensual.

However, the jury heard the woman had taken 10 double vodkas and was too drunk to fight him off.

She told how Rostas grabbed her and had forcible sex with her in a front garden between 01:00 and 02:00.

The victim told prosecutor Angela Gray said: "I don't remember leaving the Corona Bar so I assume by that point I was drunk. I can just remember hands on my arms."

The woman told the jury: "I can remember being with my back facing the building, being kind of pushed in to that bit.

"I can just remember hands on my arms and I can remember him kissing and biting my neck then after that it kind of goes a wee bit blank."

The court heard the next thing she remembered was being on her back, being raped.

The victim added: "I can remember having a heavy weight on top of me, I can just remember something being on my neck and face.

'Couldn't move'

"And I can remember trying to push him off me but I just felt I couldn't move. Like I couldn't do anything."

She said her attacker repeatedly said "it's okay" and "it will be fine".

Taxi driver Michael Kelly, who came to the woman's aid, told the court that her clothes were dirty and she was upset and sobbing.

PC Laura Cameron, who took a statement from the woman, said she was distressed, crying and quite shaken up.

The court was told how Rostas had been staying in the Govanhill area with his uncle and nephew and claimed to be working unloading lorries.

Following the rape, police launched a high-profile media campaign asking the public to help catch the attacker.

The investigation helped identify Rostas from CCTV footage taken from shops, a pub and street cameras.

The court was told that Rostas bought a one-way ticket to Romania on 1 June last year and was arrested on a European arrest warrant and returned to the UK in October 2014.