U.K. Man Sentenced to 10 Years for Rape of Grindr Sex Partners
A 38-year-old man in Bedford, England, was sentenced to jail and probation for sexually assaulting two men he met on the dating app, Grindr.
A man in the United Kingdom was sentenced to 10 years in prison for violently attacking and raping two men he met through the gay dating app Grindr.
On September 8, Dr. Mohammed Altaher, 38, of Bedford, was given a sentence of 10 years, plus a 5-year sentence extension, meaning he will continue to be monitored by probation officers after his release until the year 2038.
Altaher had previously been found guilty at an earlier hearing of two counts of raping a male over 16, as well as one count of sexual assault by penetration of one of his victims. He is currently appealing his conviction on those charges.
Prosecutors claimed that Altaher, an AI specialist, attacked the two men at his home in two separate incidents in August and September of 2019.
“The crown case is that both victims withdrew consent to sexual intercourse, but he carried on regardless, raping the victims in an aggressive manner,” Prosecutor Nigel Ogborne told St. Albans Crown Court.
According to South Beds News Agency, one of the victims had been encouraged by Altaher to take the drug MCAT, and began engaging in consensual sex with him. But after the man began to feel unwell, Altaher continued to be sexually aggressive with him.
At one point, Altaher allegedly called another man to the house to indulge in sexual activity before he left.
After that person departed, the victim was penetrated at least ten times by a shower hose before being raped. The victim suffered multiple injuries and later disclosed the rape at a sexual assault referral center in Brighton, reporting the incident to police a couple of months later.
In a victim statement, the man said he at first couldn’t identify as a rape victim. However, the trauma he suffered led him to become disengaged at work, saying he became “like a zombie.”
The second victim claimed Altaher grabbed him, kissed him, and pushed him onto a bed as soon as he arrived. He became afraid and tried to take back consent, but Altaher ignored him and proceeded to rape him. The victim disclosed the rape to a sexual assault referral center the following day.
In his victim impact statement, he said the rape had severely impacted his mental health and well-being, leading him to struggle when in social situations and finding difficulty to do simple things such as shop due to increased anxiety.
“I was confident, healthy and outgoing and I now rely on medication,” he said.
Altaher’s defense lawyer Andrew Cohen had argued in court that his client has a “level of neuro-diversity that meant he did not understand or take signals from other people,” and argued that his client did not have a record of any previous offenses.
In handing down the sentence, Recorder (a title bestowed upon a judge) Andrew Johnson chastised Altaher, saying that had he not been so aggressive and treated his sexual partners humanely, nothing besides consensual sex would have taken place.
“But your approach to both of those encounters was to treat both of your victims as objects with whom you could do what you wished, when you wished, as you wished,” Johnson said.
Johnson said Altaher was an intelligent man, noting that the defendant had demanded to be addressed as “Doctor” rather than “Mister.” But, he added, “You are also, however, an arrogant man — or to use the language of the probation officer, from which I do not dissent, ‘quite a narcissistic individual and very self-obsessed.’
“That was apparent when you gave evidence and indeed throughout the trial. You are either unwilling or unable to recognize the perspective of anyone but yourself. Your arrogance is the backdrop to this offending,” added Johnson. “What Dr. Altaher wants, Dr. Altaher gets, and if what you want is sexual intercourse, then the consent of whoever you want it with matters to you not at all. If you want it to happen, it shall happen.”
Detective Constable Kevin Cheese commented on Altaher’s conviction.
“These were especially nasty, violent rapes,” he said. “Consent for sexual activity can be withdrawn at any time, and Altaher showed no care or compassion for the victims’ wishes in this case in the face of his own sexual gratification.
“There is undoubtedly underreporting in regards to male victims of sexual violence, and I want to thank both survivors in this case for coming forward and getting a dangerous predator like Altaher off the streets. We will always be on the side of victims, regardless of who you are.
“Sexual abuse is a horrid crime for anyone to go through and we will relentlessly pursue perpetrators of such crimes and bring them to justice.”
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