Mohammed Raihan – Swansea

A man who raped and sexually assaulted a vulnerable young girl threatened to kill her if she did not withdraw the allegations, a court has heard.

Mohammed Raihan contacted the child after he realised she had reported the abuse to the police and made a series of threats against her – but the girl did not withdraw the allegations and ultimately gave evidence from the witness box which convicted him.

Swansea Crown Court heard the abuse had left the schoolgirl feeling “numb, angry and traumatised”, and caused her to lose trust in all men.

The girl told the court that whenever she was out she was always looking over her shoulder in case she was being followed, and that she started to panic whenever a man came near.

The court heard Raihan carried out the attacks on the girl at a location in the Swansea area, and that when she told him what he was doing was hurting, the defendant replied: “Good”.

The offending happened in the summer of 2024.

The abuse was reported to the police and university student Raihan was located and arrested.

He denied the allegations and was released on bail while officers investigated the case.

The defendant then tried to threaten the girl into withdrawing her complaint.

The court heard that, following his arrest, a number of images of children being sexually abused were found on his phone.

In a statement which the schoolgirl victim read to the court, she said she used to have no concerns about going out on her own but no longer did and said it felt like she was “a different person” from the one she had been before encountering Raihan.

The teenager added that making the complaint and going through a trial where she had to give evidence in front of a room of strangers was “scary” and she said she had seen the defendant looking “smug” in the dock and smiling at her.

She said she was proud of herself for standing up to the defendant to get justice and in so doing had protected other girls from him.

Mohammed Raihan, aged 22, of Phillip’s Parade, Swansea, had previously been convicted at trial of two counts of rape, sexual assault, witness intimidation, and possession of indecent images of Categories A, B and C when he returned to the dock for sentencing.

He has previous convictions for motoring matters.

Judge Catherine Richards said Raihan had groomed a vulnerable girl before raping and sexually assaulting her. She said while on bail the defendant had then made threats to kill the girl in an attempt to get her to withdraw the complaint against him.

The judge said she had read references submitted on behalf of the defendant which spoke highly of him, and she said it was clear that while, “outwardly”, Raihan could be charming and trustworthy, once “behind closed doors” he was capable of behaving in a different manner.

For the sexual offences Raihan was sentenced to 13 years in prison, and he was sentenced to two years for witness intimidation to run consecutively and to one year for the image offences to run concurrently, making an overall sentence of 15 years.

The defendant must serve two-thirds of the sentence in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.

The defendant will be a registered sex offender for the rest of his life, and was made subject to a 20-year restraining order banning him from contacting his victim.

Judge Richards said the draft sexual harm prevention order before the court was “poorly drafted” but said in any case she had concluded it was not necessary or proportionate given the sentence and requirements of the sex offenders registration scheme.