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A "savage" rapist who shattered a woman's skull and left her to die near a children's play park has been given a life sentence with a minimum of 18 years.

Cocaine user Zakarya Etarghi raped and brutally attacked his victim just hours before pleading with friends to get him on a "truck out of the country".

The woman, in her fifties, was left with life-threatening injuries, including to her brain, after the attack near the play park in Leicester, just after 4.45am on August 3 last year.

The 24-year-old, who was on licence at the time after receiving a nine-year sentence for robbery in 2012, denied both counts of rape and attempted murder but was convicted by a jury on March 7.

He admitted he was in the park that night but denied both charges, claiming someone else must have been responsible.

(Image: Leicester Mercury/BPM Media)

In a statement read to the court today, the victim described the attack as "like something out of a horror film".

Etarghi had also sent "incriminating" messages to his friends after the attack, including one which said: "I can just see it, today is the day I get nicked."

Other messages, sent to friends on WhatsApp, indicated he would have "handed myself in by now" if his "bro wasn't coming out", and that he was "looking at 10 to 20" - which the prosecution suggested was referring to the number of years in prison.

The defendant's trial was told that he searched the internet for "crime news" and paid "close attention" to the incident in Cedar Park.

He then fled 60 miles away to Stoke-on-Trent and "laid low" for a fortnight until his arrest.

His victim suffered massive facial trauma, a complex open skull fracture with bleeding to the brain, life-threatening low blood pressure, contusion to the left lung, spinal fractures and significant brain injuries.

DNA profiles obtained from blood on pieces of paper and cigarette packets in Etarghi's flat matched the woman.

Flanked by four dock officers at Leicester Crown Court on Monday, Etarghi, wearing a white shirt and a black tie, showed no emotion and looked straight ahead as he was sentenced.

Jailing Etarghi for life, Judge Nicholas Dean QC said: "It is difficult to conceive of more serious offences of their type than the offences you were convicted of.

"This was also a most brutal sexual attack - savage is not too extreme a word to use of the sexual and physical violence used by you.

"The facts and circumstances of the events in the Cedar Road park would lead anyone to the conclusion that you were and are dangerous.

(Image: Leicester Mercury/BPM Media)

"You were responsible for controlled and extreme sexual brutality and physical violence of a most callous and horrifying type.

"Your efforts after the events to evade arrest and your lack of remorse for your actions suggest a man little troubled by his own capacity for brutal violence.

"It seems to me that you were being violent whilst you raped and sexually abused (the victim), and being violent not just to overpower her, but violent to gain sexual gratification."

Etarghi's previous convictions were read to the court, which included a series of class A drug offences, battery, assault and robbery.

In a statement read on her behalf by prosecutor William Harbage QC, the victim said: "What happened was like something out of a horror film.

"I think he's a horrible and disgusting human being because what he did goes beyond anything that I can speak of.

"I feel like I constantly need help and cannot live my life as independently as I once did.

"Sometimes I just sob to myself because it is so hard."

Describing her experience of the trial, the victim continued: "I had to walk out at one point because it all got too much.

"I could not stand the lies that were being said about me. I felt totally humiliated by the whole thing.

"Despite all this, I'm glad I came to court. I wanted justice and that is what I got. I wanted him to know that he can't make life any worse for me than he already has.

"I'm still here, I'm still alive and for that I'm grateful."

(Image: Leicester Mercury/BPM Media)

Etarghi previously told the jury the cocaine he had been taking that night along, with drinking about 12 pints of beer and cider and three vodka shots, had not made him aggressive.

He was on his way to buy more alcohol when he walked past the park and spotted the woman with two men.

He was left alone with the woman, the court heard.

He said that although he kissed and mutually fondled the woman, having met her for the first time in the park that night, he was unable to perform.

"She seemed OK with it," he said.

He claimed she was fully dressed and uninjured when he left her.

"When I left the park she had no injuries whatsoever," he added.

The victim was found naked from the waist down with a deep head wound.

An ambulance technician previously told the court he believed she had been "left for dead".

Prosecutor William Harbage QC had told the jury: "It was a brutal attack. She was the victim of two crimes that night; firstly an appalling sexual assault and secondly, an equally horrendous physical assault."

Following the verdict, Detective Inspector Mark Sinski said: “This was a horrific assault, leaving the victim with life-threatening injuries that have had a lasting impact and from which she is still recovering.

"There is little doubt that she has only survived due to the early and extensive medical treatment she received.

“Etarghi went to Stoke-on-Trent in a bid to try to evade arrest. However, we were able to identify him from DNA recovered from items left at the scene, which was pivotal to our investigation.

“We also found messages he sent to friends saying he needed to leave the country. He was fully aware that he was wanted by police.”