Getty A young woman was raped by a refugee she let stay in her home

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The 26-year-old, who has not been named, was found guilty of sneaking into the 20-year-old woman's bed after they visited the Long Night of Museums event in Cologne, where museums stay open late. He attempted to make advances towards her hours before the rape but she had told him to stay away. Judges in Cologne had previously handed the refugee a two and a half year sentence in June last year but his lawyers had demanded an acquittal, which ended up with a year being added on to his jail-term.

This was a massive breach of trust Cologne judge

The court heard the man, who came to Germany two years ago, had performed sexual acts on the woman as she slept. He stopped only after she woke up and pushed him away before fleeing to her brother's room in the same apartment.

Getty Germans protested after hundreds of women were sexually assaulted in Cologne on New Year's Eve 2015

Judges said the act was a "massive breach of trust" as the woman had been very supportive of the accused as she took him into her home after being put in contact with him through an internet group called Flüchtinge Wilkomment (Refugees Welcome). The Afghan's lawyers argued the woman had hypnopompic hallucinations, where people see visions in between sleeping and waking. They accused her of imagining the rape and also said another guest in the flat could have carried out the rape.

But the judge said: "The bottom line is that we can not have any doubts about the victims' claims." The criminal was handed a three and a half year prison sentence and ordered to pay £8,685 in costs. His lawyers said they will appeal the sentence and demanded a review of the outcome.

Getty Maria Ladenburger was raped and murdered by an Afghan refugee last year

Getty Angela Merkel's open-door refugee policy has been heavily criticised

There have been several high-profile rape cases carried out by refugees in Germany over the past two years since Angela Merkel adopted an open-door migrant policy in 2015, allowing more than 1.1million refugees to enter the country. At the beginning of December, German officials revealed the daughter of a high-ranking European Union (EU) official was raped and drowned by an Afghan refugee in the university city of Freiburg, southwest Germany, in October.

Migrants clash with police across Europe Wed, February 15, 2017 Migrants clash with each other in over crowded camps across Europe. Play slideshow EPA 1 of 107 Moroccan Police look at immigrants trying to jump the six-meter-high fence in Ceuta, Spanish enclave on the north of Africa, 09 December 2016.

Maria Ladenburger's body was found in the River Dreisam and the 17-year-old migrant was arrested after police found Maria's DNA on a scarf as well as a strand of the man's hair near the path. He admitted carrying out the attack and will be sentenced this year.