'I hope you get deported': Kuwaiti man who raped woman on river bank jailed for 12 years

A Kuwaiti man who was convicted of raping a stranger on a riverbank after watching outdoor porn has been sentenced to 12 years in jail on 6 November.

Abdel-Aziz Al-Shamary had raped a woman on a grassy bank by the River Skerne after she left a Darlington pub in the early hours of 17 May 2017.

Teesside Crown Court heard how Al-Shamary punched his victim twice in the nose, dragged her to the floor and raped her. He even told his victim to "shut up" and threatened to kill her if she reported the crime.

During his arrest, Al-Shamary had refused to talk to a female police officer and told her, "I will not talk to you, you are a woman."

Judge Sean Morris who sentenced him said, "It is quite clear to me that you have a problem with females and you regard them as lesser beings.

"I am of the view that this was as much about degradation and humiliation as it was about sexual pleasure.

The judge said, "You had a sheltered upbringing in a Bedouin family with very little contact with the opposite sex. On this night you had consumed an enormous amount of spirits.

"You had been watching pornography on your phone, in particular pornography involving outdoor sex. The idea of having sex outdoors thrilled you, as can be seen from your pornographic downloads on your phone."

"I sincerely hope that you will be deported at the half way point," the judge added.

The court heard that Al-Shamary was "thrilled" by the idea of what he did, having watched porn on his phone earlier that night.

After his conviction in October in the Darlington rape case, investigators found that Al-Shamary had posed for a selfie on the same riverbank and posted it on Facebook prior to his attack in May.

The 21-year-old had come to the UK illegally in 2015. The court heard how he had drunk a bottle of Jack Daniel's and Johnnie Walker whisky on the day of the incident, Gazette Live news website reported.

Al-Shamary was held after two women in a passing car witnessed the crime. They reportedly came to the victim's aid and also alerted police.

After his arrest, Al-Shamary told police: "Do you know Saddam Hussein? I am Saddam Hussein". He also shouted "B***h country" on two occasions.

During the sentencing, the judge said, "You were convicted on the convincing and palpably honest evidence of a brave young woman.

"She is still crying every night and living every day with this burden in her mind."