Rapist jailed after victim’s bite mark identified him
‘Dangerous’ attacker preyed on woman recently discharged from hospital, police say
A rapist has been jailed after his victim bit him so hard he still had the mark when he was arrested six days later the attack.
Adhnon Marrtab, 24, followed a woman at 4am after she had been discharged from hospital in north London on 25 October last year.
She was on her way home and had alighted a bus at Golders Green Station, visited a shop, and was waiting for another bus when she saw Marrtab crossing the road towards her.
Despite her shouting to discourage him from speaking to her, Marrtab snatched her phone from her hand.
She pushed him away and tried to escape but he kept following her and grabbing her while making sexual comments.
Marrtab then assaulted and raped her in a church yard. The woman was able to bite hard on his shoulder before she escaped over a fence to get help.
Following the attack, Metropolitan Police detectives found Marrtab on CCTV boarding a bus and tapping his Oyster card. After this, they were able to trace his travel history.
A few days later on 31 October he was arrested outside a hotel in Wembley and charged.
Police searched his body and found a large bite mark on his shoulder, matching the woman’s account to officers that she had bitten him during the attack.
Marrtab, of no fixed address, admitted rape and sexual assault by penetration at Harrow Crown Court and was sentenced to nine years in prison.
Detective Constable Pat Leonte, who led the investigation, said: “This was an extremely challenging investigation and we went to great lengths to identify and remand Maartab.
“We trawled mass amounts of CCTV footage across multiple days and worked alongside various specialist teams in pursuit of him.”
Det Con Leonte added: “Thanks to the brave victim’s compelling evidence and the work of the wider investigation team, this dangerous man is now behind bars. Women and girls have the right to feel safe in London, at any time day or night.”
SWNS