Chilling CCTV shows Preet Vikal who won scholarship to study in UK carried a semi-conscious woman to his flat before raping her and sending trophy photo of her sprawled on his bed to a friend
This is the chilling moment an Indian scholarship student carried an extremely drunk young woman to his halls of residence before he raped her.
Preet Vikal, 20, took a ‘trophy photograph’ of the victim in his bed before attacking her, Cardiff Crown Court heard.
The engineering student carried the girl back to his room – at points on his shoulders – after he encountered her ‘hopelessly intoxicated’ outside a music venue in the Welsh capital.
Prosecutor Matthew Cobbe said Vikal and the victim, who did not know each other, went out on the night of June 3 last year with separate groups of friends.
Mr Cobbe said: ‘The victim had drunk to excess and by the end of the night was, plainly, hopelessly intoxicated.
‘The victim’s recollection of the night is vague but she knew she and her friends had started drinking at home before going to a bar on Mill Lane, then to Live Lounge.
‘She could recall “snippets” of her time at Live Lounge but could not remember leaving.’
Another clubber who did not know the victim became so concerned for her welfare that she sat her down and gave her some water.
She was not able to stand up straight and was slurring her words. At one point she fell in the women’s toilets.
The stranger helping her took her phone and sent a message to the victim’s friends, explaining that she should not be alone in her condition.
The victim then left Live Lounge with friends. However, outside she encountered Vikal, an engineering student who had been drinking in the venue.
Vikal joined the victim’s group as they walked along North Road. He and the victim then moved far ahead of the rest of the group.
CCTV, which was played in court, showed Vikal carrying the victim in his arms and later across his shoulders at around 4am.
He then laid her on the ground and lifted her to her feet. As they passed the Blackweir pub, the victim was walking but leaning heavily on Vikal.
Vikal brought the victim to his room at Talybont and took what the prosecutor described as a ‘trophy photograph’ of her on his bed.
Although the victim was not naked, the picture was revealing. The victim had no recollection of the rape but she remembered waking naked next to Vikal in his bed.
She did not know where she was or who she was with.
Mr Cobbe said: ‘She was bleeding… She found her clothes folded, got out of bed and got dressed.
‘The victim asked for the defendant’s Instagram address and once she left, she messaged him asking him if they had had sex, and if so, whether they had used protection.
‘The answer she had was that yes, they had, but they had not used protection.’
The court heard that Vikal sent the picture to a friend later that day and said in the chat that he had ‘forgotten’ to use a condom.