Banbury gang guilty of brutal torture of woman who was raped

Two men, a woman and a 17-year-old boy were convicted of holding the teenager against her will at a Banbury flat last June.

Her ordeal – described as ‘bullying’ by prosecutor Patrick Duffy – saw her burnt with cigarettes, beaten, force-fed drugs and raped by flat owner Alexander Azevedo.

Jurors took around three days to return their verdicts at Oxford Crown Court after a four week trial.

Judge Nigel Daly remanded the three adults – Azevedo, 20, and lovers Sonny Weir, 20, and Natasha Washington, 19 – in custody, ordering pre-sentence reports on the latter pair to consider whether they should receive extended sentences.

Pre-sentence reports were also ordered for a 17-year-old boy, who cannot be named as he is under-18, after he was convicted of false imprisonment, ABH, common assault and battery. He was cleared of pouring hot water on her foot and urinating over her.

They will be sentenced on April 19.

A youth, 16, was found not guilty of false imprisonment and assisting an offender.

During the four week trial, the jury was told that the victim was locked in Azevedo’s flat in Britannia Wharf and subjected to a series of humiliating assaults and demands.

The group, who had been taking cocaine, cut the woman’s hair, stubbed cigarettes out on her skin, used pliers on her tongue and ear, and Washington beat her with vacuum cleaner tools.

She claimed that the 17-year-old youth had urinated on her as Weir chanted encouragement, although the boy was found not guilty of the allegation.

The woman said Weir threatened her with a knife, holding it to her face and saying: “You should have a scar for the rest of your life so you always remember me.” The group repeatedly called her a ‘snitch’.

Britannia Wharf, Banbury, where the torture allegedly took place Picture: GOOGLE

In a video-recorded interview with detectives days after the alleged ordeal in June last year, the woman said she was told a number of times that she would be killed and her body dumped in the woods.

“I genuinely thought I was never going to see my family again. I was thinking, well, no one’s going to know I’m here, my family don’t know I’m here,” she said.

The woman was forced to smoke heroin through a rolled-up bank note and, after Weir and Washington disappeared to have sex, she was raped on a sofa by Azevedo.

Closing the prosecution case to jurors, Crown advocate Patrick Duffy said: “This case is about bullying; bullying, drugs, sex and consent.”

The rapist called a taxi and sent her home. When the woman arrived back in the early hours of the following morning, her concerned mother took her to hospital.

Azevedo, 20, of Britannia Wharf, Banbury, was convicted of rape, false imprisonment, administering heroin and ABH. He was found not guilty of one count of ABH and administering Valium.

Weir, 20, of Pope Walk, Banbury, was cleared making a threat to kill and one ABH count but convicted of administering a noxious substance with intent, false imprisonment and ABH. Washington, 19, of no fixed address, was convicted of false imprisonment, ABH and administering heroin but acquitted of administering Valium with intent.

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