London: An Indian-origin man has been convicted for raping a woman in Britain nearly two years ago, after his DNA was linked to samples recovered from the crime scene, according to media reports on Wednesday.
Hardeep Sandhu, 39, was found guilty by a jury of rape and injuring with the intention of committing grievous bodily harm to the victim, who was a prostitute at the time, the Derby Telegraph reported.
Sandhu has been accused of hitting the woman on the head with a brick, repeatedly punching her and raping her in a garden at the back of Hartington Street in the town of Normanton in West Yorkshire in May 2013.
During a four-day trial, a jury at Derby Crown Court heard that in the early hours of May 26, 2013, Sandhu had been a client of the victim and had paid her 20 pounds (nearly $30) to perform a sexual act.
Prosecutor Richard Thatcher told the jury: "He attacked her -- punching her repeatedly on the face, striking her with a brick, knocking her unconscious for a period of time and, in the midst of the violent attack, raping her."
He said that the attack lasted for about two hours and Sandhu fled after committing the crime.
As the woman left the scene, she met a couple who helped her and called the police.
Police examined the garden and obtained DNA samples. However, the identity of the offender was unknown at that time.
Then, in October 2014, Sandhu was arrested for drunken and disorderly behaviour, for which he was required to give a DNA sample.
This matched the DNA samples collected from the scene of the May 2013 attack, and from a swab taken from the victim.
Thatcher told the jury that Sandhu gave a prepared statement, which said that he used prostitutes, but denied ever raping anybody and said that he did not know what he had been doing on that date.