Due to his dementia, a’respected’ Islamic preacher who raped and sexually molested a young girl in the mosque where he taught children has spared jail time.
Khandaker Mohammed Rahman, 67, went unpunished for more than a decade after his victim, who was raped in a lavatory in 2005, ceased attending the South Wales religious center in an effort to escape his grasp.
The grandpa of three was ultimately brought to justice when, thirteen years later, she recognized him in a YouTube video and tipped off police, who detained him at Heathrow Airport.
However, his trial in 2020 was postponed twice owing to illness and Covid – a juror tested positive for the condition, requiring the dismissal of the jury – before he suffered a heart attack and was diagnosed with dementia.
At his third trial this year, a jury at Swansea Crown Court determined that he had raped a girl under the age of 13 and sexually abused her twice, but they were unable to find him guilty due to his mental state.
Due to Rahman’s condition, Judge Geraint Walters granted him an absolute release and ordered that he be cared for by social services; no Sexual Harm Prevention Order was issued.
Khandaker Mohammed Rahman, 67, went unpunished for more than a decade after his victim, who was raped in a lavatory in 2005, quit attending the South Wales Islamic center to flee the predator.
The girl, from a ‘devout Muslim household’ and now in her late 20s, told the court that she found excuses not to return to the mosque after the rape, but that on the few occasions she did, Rahman groped her breasts and bottom while he was supposed to be teaching her religious lessons.
She only knew her assailant as “The Imam” until 13 years after the attacks, when she saw his face on a YouTube video, prompting her to send a photograph of his “side profile” to the police.
Rahman, of Cwmdu, Swansea, was found not guilty of rape and two counts of sexual assault by touching a girl under the age of 13.
In Rahman’s third trial, the jury was not asked to determine his guilt or innocence, but only to determine whether he committed the offenses.
After two hours and five minutes of deliberation, the jury determined that Rahman raped the girl and twice attacked her indecently.
After being raped by Rahman in a mosque in South Wales in 2005, the woman felt there were other young victims and want closure, according to testimony presented in court.
Prosecutor John Hipkin told the jury that the ‘very revered’ Muslim leader molested the girl during after-school religious classes.
He stated, “He promised to let her leave early provided she assisted him with moving some library volumes upstairs.”
On the way there, he shoved her into a restroom, causing her to fall to the ground and hit her head.
The next thing she recalls is Rahman sitting atop her.
The Swansea Crown Court was informed that the girl escaped the mosque and entered her father’s car parked outside.
The prosecutor at Swansea Crown Court, John Hipkin, told the jury that the ‘highly regarded’ Muslim leader assaulted the girl during after-school religious classes.
The jury was informed that she stopped attending the mosque after Rahman sexually attacked her on two different occasions.
Mr. Hipkin stated, “She kept the incident a secret until 2018, when she told her husband and the police were contacted.”
The woman testified at an earlier hearing this year that she was “face to face” with Rahman, who had a “very strong” body odor.
She stated that the encounter lasted only a few minutes before she pulled up her pants and rushed out of the mosque to her waiting father.
The girl, who is now in her late twenties, stated that she made excuses not to return to the mosque, but on the few occasions she did, Rahman caressed her breasts and buttocks.
Rahman, the grandpa of three adolescent children, was unable to testify, and his defense was a case of mistaken identity.
Judge Geraint Walters stated that Rahman was a fragile man whose dementia was incurable.
After reviewing the recommendations of two psychiatrists, the judge deemed hospitalization or supervision orders “inappropriate.”
He granted Rahman an absolute discharge, which means he will continue to receive care from social services in the community. There was no Sexual Harm Prevention Order issued.