Eritrean Channel Migrant Convicted of Rape & Assault After Avoiding Previous Post-Sentence Deportation
Convicted sex offender Radiet Meles struck again in South Wales following a five-year prison term for a sexual attack on an unconscious victim, for which he avoided deportation.
An Eritrean national previously convicted of attempted rape has been found guilty of raping a woman in South Wales.
Radiet Meles, 35, was convicted by a jury at Cardiff Crown Court of rape and assault by beating following a five-day trial. The defendant, of West Park Road, Newport, had denied the charges, which arose from an attack in the city in March.
The verdict marks Meles’s second sexual offence conviction. In February 2019, he was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for the attempted rape of an unconscious woman following a house party in Newport.
At his 2019 sentencing, Judge Christopher Vosper KC noted Meles’s status as an illegal entrant and warned him that he faced automatic deportation by the Home Secretary upon completion of his sentence. However, Meles was not deported at the end of his prison term and was permitted to return to the Newport area, where the latest attack occurred.
The court previously heard that Meles, a former soldier, entered the UK unlawfully in 2015 after hiding in a lorry travelling through the Channel Tunnel. Following two days in custody, he was released and relocated to South Wales, where he worked at an Amazon distribution hub and a car wash.
During his earlier trial, prosecutor Heath Edwards detailed how Meles targeted a heavily intoxicated woman who had lost consciousness. In his sentencing remarks, Judge Vosper found that the defendant had formed a deliberate intention to take physical advantage of the victim while she was incapacitated.
Remanding Meles in custody, Recorder Andrew Hammond warned him that he faces a lengthy custodial sentence when he returns to court on November 20. Meles, who required a Tigrinya court interpreter throughout the proceedings, remains remanded in custody.
