Man pleads guilty to religiously aggravated rape and assault of Sikh woman in Walsall

John Ashby, 32, pleaded guilty at Birmingham Crown Court to religiously aggravated rape and assault of a Sikh woman in Walsall.

Prosecutors said Ashby, of no fixed abode, attacked the victim in Walsall in October after following her off a bus and breaking into her home while she was upstairs.

Jurors saw the 32-year-old confront John Ashby on the second day of his trial at Birmingham Crown Court, when he initially denied raping a Sikh woman whom he mistakenly believed was a Muslim.

Excerpts from body-worn police footage showing the unidentified woman were presented to a jury of six men and six women on Tuesday, during which she was comforted by a female police officer and her attacker was said to have called her a “fucking Muslim bitch”.

The woman, who witnesses said screamed repeatedly in hysterics, told police she was raped in the bathroom by an intruder who claimed to be an “English master” and was armed with a piece of wood.

In the video call played to the court, the complainant told police: “He had a stick in his hand. I said ‘Who are you’ and started screaming.”

“He turned off the light. He said, ‘I just want to have fun with you.’ He said, ‘You’re a Muslim, bitch.’ I said, ‘I’m not a Muslim, I’m a Sikh.'”

The woman also told police that the man was initially aggressive and constantly verbally abused her, but later calmed down.