Man who filmed himself raping a woman at knifepoint on his iPad is jailed

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A man who filmed himself raping a woman at knifepoint on his tablet computer was today jailed for six years.

Iranian immigrant Hesam Khosravi, 24, kicked and beat his victim and threatened to tape her mouth up during the attack in Trafford, Greater Manchester.

He pulled her around by her hair and forced her to strip and perform a sex act before raping her, Minshull Crown Court in Manchester heard.

During the harrowing half-hour of footage, which was shown in court, Khosravi can be heard laughing and commentating on the assault in Farsi as the woman cries and sobs throughout.

Police discovered the recording on his iPad after he was arrested for an unconnected offence - but Khosravi tried to claim it was consensual "role-play".

Before the video was shown, Judge Adrian Smith warned those in court that the footage was "very distressing" and told the public gallery: "This is the time to leave if anyone does not want to watch the video."

Jonathan Dickinson, prosecuting, said Khosravi rested his iPad on a windowsill, lit the room with a halogen lamp and pressed record in a deliberate bid to capture the assault last April.

He said: "He begins by asking her questions - what's your name, etc. If she didn't answer his question, he threatened her with a knife which he can be seen to be holding.

"He ordered her to take her clothes off. She believed that if she didn't take her clothes off he would strangle her."

Mr Dickinson added: "She was saying 'leave me alone'.

"She was distressed throughout - it's clear in the footage."

After raping the woman, Khosravi "strikes her hard about the head, then stands up and kicks her with considerable force on a number of occasions", Mr Dickinson said.

Khosravi, who faces a deportation application on his release, had taken crystal meth before the attack, which made him "more aggressive", Robert Lancaster, mitigating, said.

He said the defendant, of no fixed address, had a £600 a month habit. He also said Khosravi had not shared the video of the assault.

Khosravi initially pleaded not guilty to two counts of rape but changed his plea to guilty before he went on trial.

Judge Smith said Khosravi was a well-educated man from a "decent, supportive family" who turned "violent and frighteningly menacing" during the attack.

He said the filming of the rape was an aggravating factor in a "degrading and humiliating" assault, adding: "She was sobbing and crying throughout and clearly frightened that you might use the knife that you had to injure her. Her fear is obvious."

He jailed Khosravi for six years and ordered him to register as a sex offender on his release.

Judge Smith added that, due to the growing accessibility of digital recording, sex attackers filming their crimes was an "increasing feature coming before the courts".

PA