Parents of a 17-year-old boy have handed him over to police for raping and attempting to murder a woman.
The teenager was linked to the attack by ‘billion-to-one’ DNA matches after his parents contacted police following an appeal in the press.
He is now on trial for trying to kill a woman, leaving her with ‘truly dreadful’ head injuries after he raped her.
He admitted two counts of rape, causing grievous bodily harm and stealing his victim’s handbag but denies trying to murder her in Victoria Park, Leicester, on July 3, after he left a pub where he had been drinking.
Leicester Crown Court heard he dragged her into undergrowth, where she was found by a passing cyclist almost an hour later.
Opening the case against the youth, who cannot be named because of his age, prosecutor Gordon Aspden told jurors the woman would have died were it not for the treatment she received in hospital.
After showing the jury CCTV of the defendant allegedly carrying a paving stone, Mr. Aspden told the court the woman was walking through the park when the defendant appeared at her side, violently forced her to the ground and raped her.
The prosecutor told jurors: “The evidence in this case is by any standards disturbing and extremely unpleasant.
“It’s vital that you bring to bear a rational, calm and objective approach and put any natural human emotions you feel to one side.
“At one point during the attack, the defendant dragged her off the path into the adjacent undergrowth.
“There was violence throughout. He struck her repeatedly. She was hit on the head at least twice with that heavy object that the defendant had brought with him for that very purpose.
“As a result of those blows, she suffered truly dreadful, life-threatening head injuries.”
Addressing the jury of eight women and four men, Mr. Aspden added: “Within a matter of minutes, the defendant left her for dead.
“He made no attempt to summon help or to call an ambulance, not even anonymously.
“Given what the defendant did, the Crown suggests that he used violence to terrorise and subdue his victim and ultimately his intention was to silence her.
“He raped her and attempted to kill her in order to prevent her from telling anyone, in particular the police and the courts, about what he had done.
“The level of violence he used, clearly and by any standards, went far, far beyond what was required to rape her.
“In short, had it not been for the outstanding medical treatment that she received, she would now be dead – dead at this defendant’s hands.”
The court also heard that three youths, sitting in a children’s play area, heard screaming and saw a woman struggling with a man, who appeared to be punching her repeatedly.
The group dialled 999 at 11.38pm to report what they had seen, the court heard. Police attended the park but did not spot the injured victim, who was lying semi-conscious in the undergrowth.
A cyclist contacted the ambulance service around 50 minutes later after spotting blood and a hair-clip on the ground and finding the victim critically injured nearby.
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