A SEX predator shop worker who raped a teenage girl in the store where he worked before striking again while on bail has been jailed for nine years.
Muhammad Hafeez was yesterday sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow having earlier been convicted of the attacks.
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Hafeez had preyed on his victim – a vulnerable 18 year-old stranger – after she had travelled from Ayrshire into the city on the night of March 20, 2020.
She ended up in the Central News shop in Glasgow’s Union Street, where Hafeez worked.
Jurors watched footage of the 38-year-old initially chatting to the teenager at the till.
He then went on to lure her into the back of the newsagents.
It was there he made a sleazy comment about her breasts before the victim recalled how he then “sprung” on her by kissing the 18-year-old.
Hafeez turned more sinister and threatened the girl.
She felt “compelled” to agree to what he wanted. Hafeez molested the teenager, took of her clothes before raping her in the back shop.
The traumatised victim escaped from the newsagents after the attack and got on a train to Edinburgh – miles from where she lived.
She eventually got off in Kirknewton, West Lothian, where police happened to find her.
The girl later reported her ordeal of what happened at the shop.
In her closing speech to jurors, prosecutor Lindsey Dalziel said Hafeez had seen the vulnerable girl “a mile off” and took advantage of her.
Miss Dalziel stated at one stage: “Muhammad Hafeez was nearly twice her age. Do you believe, in all the circumstances, that she agreed to have sexual intercourse?”
Hafeez had been freed on bail when he targeted another teenage girl.
The second victim – who was around the same age as the first – was raped in a motor in an unknown car park in Glasgow on September 13, 2021.
She had also been in the shop and – in an apparent act of “goodwill” – Hafeez had offered to give her a lift.
But, it was in the vehicle he demanded she get in the back before he forced himself on her.
Advocate depute Miss Dalziel said he “carried out a predatory campaign of behaviour to satisfy his own sexual needs” by preying on “vulnerable” victims.
She concluded: “This is not a series of unfortunate coincidences and not the universe conspiring against him.”
He was found guilty of the two rape charges by jurors.
His KC Gareth Jones yesterday said: “His position is one of continued denial.”
Hafeez repeatedly shook his head as he was sentenced by Judge Alasdair MacFadyen.
The judge told him: “The degree of harm and level of culpability in this case is high. The level of remorse is zero.
“The consequences for both (victims) are serious as well.”
Hafeez was also put on the sex offenders list indefinitely.
Detective Inspector John Lambert of Greater Glasgow Division said: “Hafeez is a despicable individual who subjected two young women to a horrific ordeal purely to satisfy his own sexual needs.
“I commend these women for coming forward and showing strength throughout the process which has led to Hafeez facing the consequences for his actions.
“I would urge anyone who has been the victim of sexual violence to come forward and report it to us, regardless of the passage of time.
“We, working with partner agencies, will support you through the process, investigate thoroughly and bring those responsible to justice.
“Anyone with information or concerns should contact Police Scotland on 101, or you can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”
