Thanks to the ‘courage and bravery’ of a woman who was subjected to a series of ‘harrowing and deeply distressing’ attacks in Salford, an attempted rapist has been jailed.
Adam Salah, a 19-year-old of no fixed address, was sentenced to five years and 10 months in prison at Manchester Crown Court yesterday.
He pleaded guilty to the charge of attempted sexual assault by penetration, which culminated in an attempted rape in a Salford park, back on September 30 of last year.
Detective Constable Richard Hudd said: “This was undoubtedly a harrowing and deeply distressing experience for the victim, who was subjected to not one, but two awful sexual assaults by this man.”
At around 3am on Tuesday April 1 2015, a 33-year-old woman was walking home from a friend’s house down Great Cheetham Street when two men started calling to her.
She ignored them but Salah walked over to her and grabbed her, pushing her against a wall and sexually assaulting her over her clothes.
Salah’s friend tried to drag him away from the victim, who started to call the police and screamed ‘you’re not getting away with this’.
Police received a harrowing phone call from the ‘clearly terrified’ victim at 3.39am, who screamed down the phone that someone had tried to rape her and was following her again.
She begged the police to find her quickly and was able to tell the call taker where she was before she was heard screaming as the phone went dead.
The victim had ‘bravely’ followed Salah after the initial assault to try to ensure he was brought to justice but he turned around to approach her again and then grabbed her around the neck.
Salah put his victim in a choke hold while simultaneously sexually assaulting her.
The victim was scratching and biting Salah and trying to break his grip to get free.
Two officers, responding to the victim’s emergency call, ran into Albert Park, heard screaming and saw an ‘out of control’ Salah lying on top of the woman.
They tried to pull him away but he resisted with such force that the officers were forced to use a taser to restrain him.
DC Hudd said: “Salah was out of control, he could not be restrained by his friend in the first instance and even our trained officers struggled to restrain him when they found him attacking her in the park.
“We must praise the bravery of the victim, who refused to allow Salah to get away with the original assault and instead decided to try and bring him to justice by following him until officers showed up.
“Unfortunately in this instance that put her in danger of another attack, but thanks to her courage and her determination, Salah is no longer free to subject any other women to the terrible assault he inflicted upon her.”
Greater Manchester is nationally recognised as a model of good practice in terms of support services available to victims.
If you or someone you know has been raped or sexually assaulted, GMP encourage you not to suffer in silence and report it to them or a support agency so you can get the help and support available.
You can call Greater Manchester Police on 101, or alternatively people can refer themselves to St Mary’s Sexual Assault Referral Centre on 0161 276 6515.
St Mary’s Sexual Assault Referral Centre in Manchester provides a comprehensive and coordinated forensic, counselling and medical aftercare service to anyone in Greater Manchester who has experienced rape or sexual assault.
Services are available on a 24-hour basis and people can access them either as a self-referral or via Greater Manchester Police.
Manchester Rape Crisis is a confidential support service run by women for women and girls who have been raped or sexually abused.
For the confidential helpline call 0161 273 4500 or copntact the Black and Minority Ethnic helpline on 0161 273 4514.
Main image courtesy of Google Maps and GMP, with thanks.
