Girl screamed for help as teenager tried to rape her outside busy Leeds' Corn Exchange
A teenager tried to rape a young girl on the steps of Leeds’ Corn Exchange as horrified members of the public tried to intervene.
Sick Muaz Ali even tried to “shoo” away the crowds as he pulled at the girl’s trousers and underwear.
He had targeted the 15-year-old girl knowing that she was drunk, Leeds Crown Court was told.
Incredibly, he continued to deny any wrongdoing despite eye-witness evidence and CCTV footage, but was found guilty of attempted rape after a trial.
The 18-year-old was handed an extended jail sentence of more than nine years after Judge Simon Batiste deemed him to be danger to the public.
He told Ali, who is also known as Musa Miraz and was 17 at the time: “It was a brazen attempt to rape a girl in the city centre of Leeds. You knew she was highly vulnerable.
“The evidence was was extremely strong indeed. Despite that, you still maintained your innocence.”
The court heard that the girl had been with friends in Leeds city centre on the evening of May 10 last year and had been drinking vodka.
CCTV showed that she was intoxicated and was approached by Ali outside the Corn Exchange.
He made her sit on his knee and continued to try and kiss her. He then led her away to find a more secluded area of the building’s steps, away from her friends.
He was then seen to put her on her back on the steps, pulling at her trousers and underwear and “begging” her for sex.
She was shouting for him to stop as he held her down with one hand and tried to take his own trousers down. She was screaming: “I don’t want to do it.”
Shocked members of the public tried to intervene but it failed to deter Ali. They were able to drag him off the girl and police officers, who had been nearby, quickly arrived to arrest him.
A victim impact statement read to the court by prosecutor Lydia Pearce said the terrifying ordeal had left the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, feeling suicidal and depressed.
She said she had not left the house for months and it had led to strained relations with her family and friends.
Ali, of Grange Park Road, Roundhay, had come the UK in May 2023 from Sudan. However, he has built up a lengthy criminal record in that time, including arson, criminal damage, possession of drugs and assaults on emergency workers.
He appeared in court over a video link from Wetherby YOI, where he was being held on remand.
Judge Batiste gave him four years and three months’ jail, with a five year extended licence period. He was put on the sex offender register for the rest of his life.
He explained to the court that the sentence was reduced because Ali was a child at the time of the attempted rape.