A man has been jailed after he repeatedly raped and abused a woman he knew in Southwark – leaving her so frightened of him that she was left too scared to give her testimony.

Ahmedshah Naizi, 20, of no fixed address, was jailed for 14 years following an investigation by police detectives.

He was found guilty on Thursday, October 19 at Inner London Crown Court of numerous violent offences.

These included four counts of rape, one count of intentional suffocation, one count of actual bodily harm, one count of assault by battery, and one count of coercive and controlling behaviour.

Over a period, Naizi repeatedly raped the victim in brutal attacks, on one occasion strangling her and on another holding a pillow over her face.

His control over the survivor's daily life was absolute; he wouldn't let her obtain prescriptions without him there, he stopped her from seeing friends and family, and strongly dominated her finances.

The court heard that if the woman tried to leave the address, Naizi berated her or physically assault by limb twisting, smacking, punching, and strangling.

When the victim suffered a miscarriage, Naizi wouldn't let her seek medical help.

The woman managed to secretly capture parts of this abuse on film, which were presented as compelling evidence during the trial.

There was also a video, thought to have been shot by Naizi, which showed him throwing water at the unconscious woman to wake her.

The victim sought support from an Independent Domestic Violence Adviser where she explained her abuse to specialist officers.

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She gave two victim interviews before eventually withdrawing her allegation and was unable to speak in court due to fear.

PC Alice Pyne, a specialist officer supporting the victim-survivor throughout this investigation, said: “We fully understood why the victim-survivor withdrew her statement.

“We did not let this deter us, we continued to work tirelessly to ensure this man would never be able to harm her again and to give her all the support that she needed.

Detective Constable Michelle Elisio, from the Met’s Specialist Crime team, who carried out the investigation, said: “I would like to commend the courage and strength of the woman in reporting these offences to police and hope that she feels some comfort knowing her attacker is now behind bars.

“We worked closely with the Crown Prosecution Service to ensure Naizi received this sentence, despite instilling so much fear in his victim that she didn’t feel able to speak in court.

“I hope Naizi’s conviction sends a powerful message to others who feel trapped in a cycle of violence in an abusive relationship; please contact police – we have specially trained officers who will support you, investigate the allegations with the aim of putting those responsible before the courts.

“I hope this investigation demonstrates the work we will do to put sexual offence perpetrators behind bars.”