A rapist was today starting an eight-year jail sentence after attacking and subjecting a Japanese student to a seven-hour kidnap ordeal.

Peter Njenga, 28, bowed his head and looked tearful as he heard the verdicts at Oxford Crown Court yesterday. Njenga, a wealthy Kenyan, is seeking political asylum and had been in the country just six months when he committed his crimes.

During the trial, the 22-year-old victim told how Njenga, of Ashurst Way, Rose Hill, Oxford, had approached her in a city centre alleyway as she headed home in the early hours of September 19 last year.

She said he asked her to go out with him but she refused. He then grabbed hold of her and would not let go.

She told the jury, through an interpreter: "I was full of fear that he might rape me. I did my best to yell 'help'." The woman said Njenga began to kiss her and told the jury: "First of all he was gentle but after hearing my yelling he pressed his mouth so hard that I could hardly breathe.

"My legs went like jelly and I went down to the ground."

She said it was then that he raped her and that she was crying throughout the attack. Njenga then forced her into his car and drove her to a house in Headington, Oxford. He was captured on a security camera entering the alleyway and leaving with the girl.

Once in the house, Njenga took her into a bedroom, locked the door and raped her again. Njenga claimed in evidence that he had mistaken the girl for a prostitute. He said he used prostitutes regularly and spent about £400 a week on their services. He had had sex with prostitutes in King's Cross, London, in alleyways, at his house and in B&Bs.

Sentencing Njenga, Judge Francis Allen told him: "You decided to rape a young woman of perfectly good character that night in Oxford.

"You then kidnapped her and took her to a house where you again had your way with her. It is quite clear seeing her that she is a very timid person and was, and is, gravely distressed by what you did to her.

"You had, in my judgement and the judgement of the jury, not least regard to her feelings that night."

Story date: Thursday 04 February

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.