A Kurdish asylum seeker has been jailed for seven years for rape, which the judge said had caused “immense harm” to the victim.
Mehmet Ogur, 27, was found guilty during a trial last summer after denying any wrongdoing, despite sending her messages apologising for what he had done.
Stafford Crown Court heard the trained veterinary technician, who was living at the Holiday Inn Express in Tamworth, met the 18-year-old woman in January 2025.
The jury was told the attack happened at a park near the town centre, days after they made contact on Snapchat.
Ogur is understood to have arrived in Britain on a small boat weeks before the attack. He showed no apparent emotion in the dock as he was jailed on Monday.
Passing sentence, Judge John Edwards said the rape had caused “immense harm” to the victim.
He told Ogur, who was assisted in court by a Turkish interpreter: “Your continued stay in the United Kingdom will be for others to determine, not for me.”
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The judge accepted that Ogur was “plainly a man of intelligence” who had witnessed extreme violence before being “grabbed from the middle of the sea” and arriving in Britain.
‘He completely changed me’
Before sentencing, the victim said in an impact statement to the court: “I’m a survivor of rape by Mehmet Ogur.
“No words can explain what he put me through. He completely changed me as a person. The truth is, I don’t think I’ll ever get through it. He completely destroyed me.
“It’s been nearly a year since you raped me, but it still feels like yesterday. Why me? Why did you choose me to completely destroy when all I did was show kindness and empathy towards you?”
During Ogur’s trial, the court heard he attacked the woman after consensual cuddling and kissing in a secluded area of a park.
The jury was told the victim screamed for him to stop as she tried to struggle free.
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Messages sent to woman
Ogur said he had only engaged in consensual activity and that messages he sent to the woman were not admissions of guilt.
The court heard one note read: “I am really sorry, I didn’t actually want to do this but I couldn’t stop myself” while another stated “I am sorry for trying to force you to have sex”.
Ogur claimed Google Translate had altered the meaning of the messages, but the prosecution argued they represented a “full and complete admission”.
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Sachan Gautam, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said it was a “deeply distressing case”, adding that Ogur’s “behaviour escalated from unwanted advances to a violent and traumatic rape”.
Detective Constable Samuel Infanti, from Staffordshire Police, praised the victim and said she had “shown tremendous bravery”.
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The Holiday Inn Express in Tamworth was set on fire and damaged by rioters in August 2024, days after the Southport dance class stabbings.
Several people were later jailed for their part in the disorder.
