London, Nov 14 (PTI) A 30-year-old Indian-origin storeworker in the UK has been jailed for nearly eight years forraping a woman who visited his shop to charge her mobilephone, according to media reports.
Swapnil Kulat locked the 40-year-old woman inside theshop, beat her and raped her, BBC reported.
Kulat, who hailed from Nagpur, was sentenced to sevenyears and eight months in prison by the Manchester Crown Courtafter pleading guilty to rape, false imprisonment and causingactual bodily harm, the report said.
He faces being deported back to India following hisrelease, the metro.co.uk reported.
Police said his victim had been on her way to a friend'shouse when she realised her phone's battery was flat on March19.
She walked into the shop where Kulat was working inWithington to ask if she could charge it briefly inside theshop.
"After she plugged her phone in, Kulat locked up theshop, became aggressive and refused to allow her to leave," aspokesperson for Greater Manchester Police said.
"He hit the woman in the face and the body with a woodenpole repeatedly, causing serious bruising and swelling. Theattack was so vicious that the pole actually broke intoseveral pieces."The woman was held prisoner overnight and was repeatedlythreatened with murder before she was freed the next morning,the report said.
Speaking after sentencing, Detective Constable LauraHughes, from the force's sexual offences unit, called theattack "despicable".
"Kulat subjected her to a violent and terrifying ordeal,which will haunt her for the rest of her life and nothing willrepair the psychological damage he has inflicted," she said.
"I want to commend her bravery in coming forward toreport this shocking attack and helping to secure thisconviction," Hughes said. PTI AMS AKJAMS.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.