'Dangerous' rapist mistaken for Leeds taxi driver jailed for more than 15 years
A predator who picked up a woman that thought he was her pre-booked taxi and then raped her has been handed an extended prison sentence of more than 15 years.
Rashid Kwabena Boachie was only caught when his DNA was finally matched for another another sex offence committed four years later.
The 44-year-old was found guilty after and eight-day trial of raping the woman in a sports centre car park in August 2021, and of sexually assaulting another victim in Leeds city centre last year.
He was cleared of attempting to rape that second victim.
Sentencing him at Leeds Crown Court this afternoon, Judge Neil Clark told him: “Each incident involved you looking for women who were highly intoxicated who had become isolated and thus highly vulnerable.
“You exhibit no shame, guilt or empathy for your victims.”
He told him his version of events were “fanciful” and the trial was “frankly hopeless”.
He handed him a jail sentence of 10 years and six months, with a five-year extended licence period. He put on the sex offender register for life.
During the trial it was heard that the rape victim had been drinking in the Hunslet area on the August bank holiday in 2021.
Intoxicated and becoming separated from friends later in the evening, she rang for a taxi. When a car pulled up, she got in, assuming it was the cab she had ordered.
However, Boachie was behind the wheel and he drove around looking for a “secluded place”.
Boachie pulled into one car park but was disturbed, so drove to the car park of the John Charles Centre for Sport off Middleton Grove, Middleton, where he put the seats down and raped her.
Afterwards, he drove her to where she had initially wanted the taxi to drop her off.
Crying and shaking, she told her mother and the police were contacted.
DNA samples were found on her clothing, but no match was found on the database, so the “case went cold”.
On August 9 last year, a woman had been drinking in Leeds city centre and in the early hours. She too became separated from friends.
Footage from various bars earlier that evening showed Boachie drinking and dancing and was being “persistent” in talking with females.
The victim then bumped into Boachie in the street, who led her down an alleyway in Blayds Court, next to the Travelodge hotel.
He pushed her up against a wall behind industrial bins and sexually assaulted her.
She screamed and struggled which was heard by an employee of the hotel.
When disturbed by the staff member, Boachie calmly walked off “pretending that nothing had happened”.
Boachie was later arrested and during his interview denied wrongdoing.
But after his DNA was taken, it flagged up as a match to the sample taken from the woman four years prior.
Boachie, of Ashby Terrace, Bramley, was later quizzed about that incident, but claimed it was consensual.
Speaking after his conviction, Detective Inspector Jodie Hayes, of the Homicide and Major Enquiry Team, said: “In both cases, Boachie has deliberately preyed on heavily intoxicated, vulnerable women who have become separated from their friends. He is a dangerous sexual predator.
“Cases like this are never fully closed, we will always act on any new evidence to get justice for victims.
“There were four years between these offences and there is potential that Boachie has committed other crimes during that time. If anyone has been a victim of an offence, we would urge them to report it.”