Sheraz Malik was jailed for 10 years after a jury found him guilty of raping an 18-year-old woman in a Nottinghamshire park. The court said he targeted a heavily intoxicated teenager, while police are still tracing a second suspect.
A UK court has jailed a Pakistani asylum seeker for 10 years for raping an intoxicated 18-year-old girl at a park in June 2025.
According to prosecutors, Sheraz Malik, 28, and a group of men encountered the girl and her friend at Sutton Lawn Park while they had been out drinking.
Her male friend had asked him and his group to “look after her” while he went to meet another friend. After her friend briefly left the area, Malik took the “particularly vulnerable” teenager to a secluded part of the park and raped her.
The survivor repeatedly protested during the assault. According to The Sun, Malik later asked her: “Did you enjoy that?”
Malik, who denied the allegations and claimed the sex was consensual, was convicted by a jury in January on two counts of rape. On Thursday, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to serve an additional four years on extended licence after his release.
Giving evidence during the trial, the woman told jurors: “I was scared, I felt scared of saying no.”
WHO IS SHERAZ MALIK?
The trial heard that Malik is an asylum seeker born in Pakistan who had previously lived in Italy, Germany and France before arriving in the UK.
He had been in Britain for less than a year when the attack took place. A court order prevented the media from reporting his immigration status until the trial had concluded to avoid prejudicing the proceedings.
During the trial, Malik told the court he had been playing cricket and smoking cannabis with a group of men in the park before the incident. He also denied allegations that he physically assaulted her.
COURT HEARS HARROWING ACCOUNT OF ASSAULT
Sentencing Malik, Judge Simon Ash KC said Malik targeted a vulnerable young woman despite being aware that she was heavily intoxicated and alone in a park at night with men she did not know. Judge Simon Ash KC also told the court that Malik repeatedly referred to the survivor as “a slut” following the assault.
“When she tried to resist, you hit her hard to the face and head,” the judge said.
“Some of the things you said to her did… amount to additional degradation and humiliation of her.”
The judge also said Malik posed “a significant risk” to the public and had shown no remorse for his actions.
A pre-sentence report found Malik displayed “distorted thinking by (him) in relation to consent, personal entitlement and the objectification of women”.
“Rather than feeling empathy towards, you appear to feel only hostility and anger towards her,” the judge added.
In an impact statement, the teenager described the lasting effect of the attack on her life.
“I find myself struggling to cope,” she said, adding, “I keep having nightmares about the incident and the medical examination after it.”
SECOND SUSPECT REMAINS AT LARGE
According to evidence presented at Birmingham Crown Court, another man from the same group also raped the woman earlier that night. Police have yet to identify and arrest that suspect.
Nottinghamshire Police said efforts to find the second suspect remain ongoing. Detective Inspector Nicole Milner praised the survivor courage throughout the investigation.
“Above all, my thoughts are with the survivor, whose courage, resilience and bravery have been evident throughout both the investigation and the criminal justice process,” she told the BBC.
