Indian student in UK carries drunk woman to flat, rapes her; sentenced to over six years in jail

CCTV Footage showed Preet Vikal carrying the "intoxicated" woman in his arms and across his shoulders through Cardiff city centre.

London: A 20-year-old Indian-origin student was sentenced to more than six years imprisonment for raping an "intoxicated" woman while she was on a night out with friends last year in Wales. CCTV Footage showed Preet Vikal carrying the "intoxicated" woman in his arms and across his shoulders through Cardiff city centre.

Vikal admitted rape and was sentenced to six years and nine months in a young offenders' institution, a release by South Wales police said on Friday. Vikal, an engineering student, came across the woman while she was on a night out with friends in Cardiff city centre. "Stranger attacks such as these are extremely unusual in Cardiff but in Preet Vikal we had a dangerous individual," said Detective Constable Nick Woodland.

"He took advantage of an intoxicated and vulnerable young woman who became separated from her friends," Woodland was quoted as saying. Prosecutor Matthew Cobbe said the university student brought the victim to his room at Talybont, despite the victim being unable to give consent, reported The Sun newspaper.

Cobbe said Vikal and the victim, who did not know each other, went out with separate groups of friends. The CCTV footage played in the court showed Preet carrying the victim in his arms and later across his shoulders at around 4 am. He then laid her on the ground and lifted her to her feet, the video shows. As they passed the Blackweir pub, the victim was walking but leaning heavily on Vikal.

"She was bleeding. She found her clothes folded, got out of bed and got dressed. The victim asked for the defendant's Instagram address and once she left, she messaged him asking him if they had sex, and if so, whether they had used protection, "prosecutor Matthew Cobbe said. "The answer she had was that yes, they had, but they had not used protection."

The court heard that Vikal sent the picture to a friend later that day and said in the chat that he had "forgotten" to use a condom. After learning about what had transpired, the woman reached out to the police and Preet was arrested on the same day. He gave a prepared statement claiming the victim had been a "willing participant".

The prosecutor said it was clear the victim was too drunk to consent to sex. But Vikal pleaded not guilty before he finally admitted the rape on the day of trial. Officers carried out an extensive trawl of CCTV and it was this footage, along with an Instagram message exchange with the victim, that led to Vikal being identified and arrested. He also took a "trophy photograph" of her on his bed. Vikal will serve two-thirds of the sentence in custody and the remainder on licence. (Agency inputs)