Three men who raped a drunken young woman after one had kidnapped her outside a nightclub were today sentenced to a total of 57 years.
The 23-year-old victim became separated from a friend on her first night out after the end of Covid restrictions.
She lost her as they left Vogue nightclub in Bedford High Street in the early hours of the morning.
Gemti Hyka, 31, who had targeted her inside the club, put her into his car and drove her to an address in the town centre where he raped her.
Two of his associates, Vullnet Haka and Ibrahim Bezati, arrived and raped her. She had been slapped and forced to take cocaine.
Early in the morning she fled the house and was found by passers-by.
Read: Three Bedford men face “long prison sentences” for kidnap and rape
Survival mode
She told Luton crown court she had no memory of leaving the club in the early hours of 4 September last year. At the address, she said she went into “survival mode.”
The woman told prosecutor Martin Mulgrew: “I begged them to let me go. I was confused and scared.”
She said she would never agree to leave with someone she did not know and said she did not agree to have sex with anyone or sexual activity with anyone.
Hyka, of Cambridge Road, Bedford, was found guilty of kidnap, false imprisonment and two charges of rape. He was cleared of two other charges of rape.
Judge Steven Evans jailed him for 21 years with an extended sentence of five years as the judge considered him to be a dangerous offender.
Haka, 33, of Washburn Close, Bedford and Bezati, 36, of Caves Lane, Bedford was found guilty of false imprisonment and two charges of rape of the woman.
The jury cleared them of two other charges of rape.
Haka was sentenced to 14 years. Bezati was sentenced to 17 years.
All three, who are originally from Albania, will be on the sex offender register for life and can only apply for parole after they have served two-thirds of their sentence.
“I need my mum”
The victim’s friend told the court that when they left the club she went right and the victim went left to avoid a group of men fighting in the street.
The friend, also 23, spent half an hour looking for her on her own and was then joined by a male friend on the search.
Finally, at around half past seven in the morning, she said she received a call from the friend who had been crying. She said she was at Kempston police station and told her: “I need Mum.”
Her friend told the jury that they had gone for dinner in Zizzi in Bedford where they ate Pasta and drank wine between them.
They then went on to the Slug and Lettuce before going into Vogue nightclub.
She said it was their first night out after the lockdown. At one point she saw her friend receive a kiss from a man on the dance floor. “I told him to leave her alone and he left,” she said.
On a scale of 1 to 10 she was asked how drunk her friend was. She replied “7 or 8.”
Hyka told the jury when they got to the address she agreed to have sex. He said: “She never cried when she was with me. I never did it. I am not a rapist.”
Under cross-examination by Mr Mulgrew, Hyka denied that he and the other men spoke in Albanian and laughed at her.
After their conviction, Judge Evans said: “I am satisfied Hyka targeted her in the club. He formed the idea he would take her to his house.
“I am satisfied he waited for her to achieve an ambush. He made the other defendants aware she was at his house.
“Hyka is likely to have raped her before their arrival. Once they all attended she was forced to take cocaine and encouraged to drink with the single aim of making her comply with what they intended.
“An atmosphere of intimidation and fear was created. She was slapped and forced to take cocaine. There was a degree of humiliation.”
Detective Constable Hannah Latton, from Bedfordshire Police’s Rape and Serious Sexual Offences (RASSO) team said: “This was a horrific case where the victim was effectively targeted by these men, who took her to a property where she was held against her will and repeatedly raped.
“Thankfully incidents such as these are incredibly rare, but the result should serve as reassurance to anyone who has been through the trauma of rape or serious sexual assault. We will believe you and do everything in our power to bring such predators to justice.
“The victim showed tremendous courage by facing her attackers in court, even though they had the audacity to deny the offences, putting her through a further ordeal of re-living the incident during the trial.
“Her evidence was crucial to ensuring these men will remain behind bars for a considerable amount of time.
“Nobody should feel they cannot speak up about abuse. We will treat every case professionally with the utmost compassion and have specialist officers trained to support people who have experienced such horrendous offences.”
Support
If you have been a victim of any kind of sexual assault, you can contact Bedfordshire’s Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) the Emerald Centre, by visiting emeraldcentre.org or by emailing info@emeraldcentre.org or calling 01234 897052.
They offer free support and practical help to anyone in Bedfordshire who has experienced sexual violence and/or sexual abuse.
Reports of sexual assault, even if non-recent, can be made to the police by calling 101 or through beds.police.uk/ro/report. Always call 999 in an emergency.
Reporting by South Beds News Agency
Edited by Paul Hutchinson for the Bedford Independent
