Sudesh Kumar 44

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A Derby man who has been found guilty of raping a young woman while taking her home from a party has been jailed.

Sudesh Kumar, of Carsington Crescent, Allestree, had been accused of raping the victim in his car after leaving a party at the pub where he worked as a manager in August 2018.

During the trial, Derby Crown Court heard the victim woke up the next morning and “felt something was wrong”, before telling her mother who called the police.

The 41-year-old was charged after forensic experts found traces of his semen on the complainant’s tampon.

Kumar, who was known to many as Bobby, denied any wrongdoing, but was found guilty of rape by a jury at Derby Crown Court on Tuesday, March 16.

Over the course of the trial, the court heard how the woman, who is in her 20s, had spent the afternoon and evening drinking at the Pear Tree Inn, in Derby, where Kumar worked as a pub manager on August 3, 2018.

Following this, the woman, Kumar and other people went to a house party in Sunny Hill in the early hours of next morning.

Opening the trial last week, Jonathon Dee, prosecuting, told the hearing the Crown's case is that Kumar raped the drunk young woman as he gave her a lift home from the party in Sunny Hill.

He said the prosecution say he took advantage of the complainant’s state to carry out the sex attack wich she cannot remember owing to how much alcohol she had drunk.

During the trial, the jury heard testimony from one witness who saw Sudesh offer to take the woman home and the last time she had seen the victim was when she left in his car.

The trial heard the victim said the last thing she remembered was playing with the dogs belonging to the host of the party, before waking up in her home the next morning.

She sensed something was wrong and told her mother, who rang the police. When Kumar was linked to semen found on the woman’s tampon, he was spoken to by police.

Mr Dee, prosecuting, said: “He was interviewed about the matter three months later and gave a prepared statement. Basically it said ‘I took her home, I did not rape her, I did not do anything to her’.”

He said Kumar claimed he had touched himself sexually while at the party in Sunny Hill and one explanation may be his semen transferred from hand-to-hand.

Kumar’s denial meant the victim was forced to take to the stand to give evidence before the jury.

When being cross-examined by Kumar’s defence barrister Alisdair Smith, the victim said Kumar had a history groping her.

Mr Smith said to her: “You said in your police interview Bobby must have had something to do with it.

“You said he was ‘a bit touchy-feely’ and touched your bottom sometimes in the pub. I am going to suggest to you that is not something he did.”

She replied: “He did.”

However, the jury spent eight hours and 59 minutes deliberating before returning a majority verdict he was guilty.

He was sentenced by Recorder Adrian Reynolds to eight years imprisonment and ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register indefinitely, immediately after the verdict was announced.