Man jailed for abducting a vulnerable woman in Rugby, drugging her and then raping her

Andrzej Guzdraj had searched for his teenage victim after she had given him the slip, then led her to a ‘sordid shelter’ in a derelict building at the edge of a car park where he raped her.

Guzdraj (32) of Biart Place, Rugby, had denied raping the teenager and supplying her with ecstasy – but a jury at Warwick Crown Court convicted him of both charges.

Following an adjournment, he was jailed for 16 years for the rape, with a consecutive two-year term for supplying her with ecstasy, and was ordered to register as a sex offender for life.

Prosecutor Peter Cooper said the girl, who was 18 at the time of the incident in 2016, suffered from a mental disorder and had an academic age of about 12.

“She would do anything an adult tells her. It would have been apparent she presented as significantly younger than her chronological age, and in a doctor’s opinion she did not have the capacity to consent to sexual relations at the time.”

CCTV coverage showed the encounter began when Guzdraj approached her outside the Asda store at 8.45 in the morning.

“There was a brief conversation in which he propositioned her and asked if she wanted sex. She had never seen him before.

“You may want to ask yourselves why, what impression had he formed of her which led him to proposition her in this way? We say it was because he recognised straight away this was someone who was profoundly vulnerable.”

The girl went into the store, but when she came out he again asked if she wanted sex, and she told the court she said no, but he persisted and told her to follow him.

“He told her he had a place to go to with a sofa and a coffee table, but this turned out to be a sordid shelter at the back of an abandoned building.

“It is quite clear he knew she was scared, because on the way he asked her if she was scared of him, and she said yes.”

As they walked, Guzdraj told her to put her hand down his trousers and touch him, and she did as she was told.

But when Guzdraj then went into a shop to buy beer and condoms, leaving her to wait outside, she took the opportunity to make off back into the town centre.

CCTV cameras then showed him scouring the town centre, looking for her, for 23 minutes before finding her by a bus stop.

He told her to follow him, and as he then led her to the shelter, he gave her a tablet which ‘tasted like medicine.’

She said he had taken it from a Tic-tac box, telling her ‘this is my type of Tic-tac,’ and although Guzdraj claimed it had been a Tic-tac, Mr Cooper said it was actually an ecstasy tablet.

In the shelter, ‘furnished’ with a broken pallet and a polystyrene block as a table, the effects of the tablet hit her, and he also persisted in getting her to drink some of the beer and to try some cannabis, which made her sick.

Guzdraj then told her to take off her clothes, and although she protested that ‘this isn’t right,’ she eventually did as she was told, after which he raped her.

Before allowing her to leave, he told her not to tell anyone, but she made her way to a coffee bar in the town centre and asked a member of staff to call a Town Ranger.

“A Ranger came, and within minutes of meeting her he formed the impression she was very vulnerable, and that she was under the influence of drugs.

“She said she had had sex with a man in his house, and he asked if it had been against her will, and she said yes. He called for the police and an ambulance,” said Mr Cooper.

He added that the girl’s ordeal had had a severe impact both on her and her family.

Philip Vollans, defending, conceded: “I don’t think it can be disputed in this case she was a vulnerable individual.”

But he did dispute Judge Sally Hancox’s assessment that Guzdraj had effectively abducted the girl, arguing: “So far as abduction is concerned, there was a brief conversation and she followed him. There was no physical force used.”

He also suggested there had not been a significant degree of planning by Guzdraj, who had a new-born son at the time and had been out the night before celebrating getting a warehouse job.

Jailing Guzdraj, Judge Hancox told him: “CCTV of your movements showed you approaching the Asda supermarket where you approached her. You were obviously taking the time to look at female members of the public, checking them out.

“She was a stranger to you. Nonetheless, within minutes you asked her if she wanted to have sex with you. She was persuaded by your persistent attention to stay with you.

“I’ve no doubt you saw and recognised her vulnerability. You saw a target, and from that moment on she became your victim.

“She followed you, although she expressed her doubts about being with you and her desire to leave.

“You persuaded her to take and gave her a class A drug, ecstasy. You told her it was your kind of Tic-tac and just to try it. You knew you were not giving her innocent confectionery.

“You asked her to wait while you went into a shop, where you bought beer, condoms and vaseline. She waited a short time and then elected to walk away.

“You and she were apart for 23 minutes. What you were doing during this 23 minutes was hunting for her, and arguably hunting her. You had decided you were going to find her and continue with your plan – and you carried out that plan.

“What you did amounts to abduction. Being led to the place where you raped her clearly shows this episode took place over a substantial period.

“You denied this matter from start to finish. There has been no explanation or contrition.”