Rejected asylum seeker sentenced for raping Swiss student

The man had already been convicted of crimes 11 times in two years in Switzerland and four times in Italy. Keystone / Alessandro Della Valle

A man whose asylum application was rejected has been sentenced by a Zurich court to eight years in prison for rape and will be deported.  

In September 2018, the man broke into his victim’s apartment in Zurich and raped her. The Zurich cantonal court on Tuesday reduced his sentence by one year on appeal.

The 34-year-old had always denied the accusation. He claimed that the student was an acquaintance. 

However, during the appeal hearing on Tuesday morning before the Zurich court, he read a statement in which he apologised to his victim for having raped her. At the end of the hearing, the judges found the accused guilty of rape and trespassing but dismissed charges of coercion and bodily harm. They sentenced him to eight years’ imprisonment and expulsion from Swiss soil for 15 years. At first instance, the district court had handed down a sentence of nine years and an expulsion order for the same length of time. His name will be entered in the Schengen information system database and therefore he will not be able to enter the Schengen area for 15 years.

The man had already been convicted of crimes 11 times in two years in Switzerland and four times in Italy between 2011 and 2014. He raped the young woman in Zurich while he was on probation after a conviction.