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Disgusted passers-by thought a couple were having sex in broad daylight on the grass verge of a busy road - but the drunken woman was being raped.

One furious onlooker even threw a bowl of water over the ‘couple’ in Halesowen, West Midlands, last April, but the woman was so drunk she couldn’t move or talk.

Jobless Jamaican national Gerald Malcolm was jailed for eight years at Wolverhampton Crown Court after admitting rape.

He had met his 28-year-old victim in a public library and persuaded her to accompany him to a nearby pub.

He brought her a drink before inviting her back to his house for another drink which made her sick. Malcolm then accompanied her some of the way home when the attack occurred. But the woman cannot remember anything.

Malcolm eventually fled the scene after the bystander intervened by hurling the water when he thought the pair were having sex on the roadside. When the victim didn’t move the onlooker went to her aid but she could not move or talk.

(Image: Google)

His mother dressed the victim and they stayed with her while they waited until police arrived.

The alcohol content in the victim’s blood was over three times the drink driving limit and according to a forensic scientist would cause "severe intoxication in the average social drinker".

The 28-year-old woman − who cannot be identified for legal reasons − spoke about her ordeal.

She said: “The assault has had a lasting effect on me. I still cannot believe that this man attacked me and I don’t know how I got so drunk.

“It is awful that I cannot remember what happened to me, this was in the street in broad daylight. I would never have done anything like this in the street.

“I keep blaming myself, I keep thinking that this is my own fault because I was so drunk, but he shouldn’t have done this to me, he shouldn’t have taken advantage of me.

“I couldn’t move and I could barely speak let alone say no or fend off my attacker. I willingly went to his home for a drink but I did not at any point agree to sex, that prospect was not in my mind at all.”

DC Sarah West, from West Midlands Police, told the Birmingham Mail : “Rape is rape and there are no excuses, there is no grey area. Men need to understand that if a woman says no or is incapable of consenting, for instance through drink or drugs, they are committing a criminal offence.

“I hope the sentence will help the woman move on with her life knowing the person responsible is behind bars.”

Malcolm, of no fixed address, is set to be deported following his sentence.