Victim of Leeds sports-centre car-park rapist tells court: 'The pain is too hard to process'
A woman who was picked up by predatory rapist and driven to secluded sports centre car park and attacked has told a court she will “never be the same”.
Her heartfelt impact statement was read out during the sentencing hearing of Rashid Boachie, who was handed more than 15 years’ jail.
He was convicted after a trial at Leeds Crown Court for the 2021 rape and sexual assault of another woman last year.
Read to the court by prosecutor Samuel Ponniah, the rape victim said she was left numb and required medication.
She said: “The pain of what happened is too hard to process. I won’t ever be the person I was before. I will live with this trauma forever.”
She said it had affected her relationships and lost her job.
She added: “I used to go out with friends a lot, but now I won’t. I do not feel safe.
“I’m worried something like this would happen again. If it did, I wouldn’t be able to carry on.”
During the eight-day trial, it was heard the woman had been on a night out on the August bank holiday in 2021.
Becoming drunk and separated from pals, she rang for a taxi home and got into a vehicle that pulled up thinking it was the cab, but was Boachie who happened to be passing.
The 44-year-old drove her to a car park but left after they were disturbed.
He then drove her to the car park of the John Charles Centre for Sport off Middleton Grove, Middleton, where he put the seats down and raped her.
Later contacting the police, DNA samples of the culprit were taken from the victim but no match was found.
It was not until 2025 when Boachie, of Ashby Terrace, Bramley, was arrested for further sex offending was his DNA linked.
On August 9 last year a woman had been drinking in Leeds city centre when she too became separated from friends in the early hours.
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, although he was cleared of attempted rape.
The woman bravely read out her own impact statement to the court as Boachie listened over a video link from HMP Leeds, where he was being held on remand.
She told him: “You could have admitted what you did at any point. We should not have gone through the months of waiting for the trial to start.
“Those months were the hardest of my life. You deserve punishment for what you did.”
Judge Neil Clark said there were clear comparisons between the two victims.
They had both been out with friends, were intoxicated and became isolated which allowed predator Boachie to take advantage.
He handed him a jail sentence of 10 years and six months, with a five-year extended licence period. He was put on the sex offender register for life.